


Black Skies

by lilized



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Flashbacks, Is it Self Harm if you try to kill your younger self?, Language, M/M, Pre Moira canon, Time Travel, Violence, Well one, and hears voices, imposter syndrome, jack's in a bad place, take a wild guess - Freeform, unreliable narrators
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-24
Updated: 2017-11-26
Packaged: 2018-10-10 02:36:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 29,706
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10427259
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lilized/pseuds/lilized
Summary: “Time travel?It sounds like a turn-of-the-century bad science fiction.”Reaper gets the mission to kill Jack Morrison in the past and Talon is bad at time traveling.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! This is my first fanfiction ever, so please, be gentle with me.
> 
> English is not my language.
> 
> Special thanks to my beta, Su (http://nonomnismoriar.tumblr.com/)

The little man in a bespoken suit appeared nervous to be in Reaper's presence, which filled Reaper with no small amount of pleasure.

 

“Time travel?It sounds like a turn-of-the-century bad science fiction.”

The man startled from the unexpected interruption, fixed his tie while clearing his throat

“Well, Mr. _Reaper_ , many things that we didn't believe possible happened. We assure you this is the real deal. We’ve reverse engineered the chronal accelerator Widowmaker retrieved from your latest encounter with newly reformed Overwatch, and we have perfected the technology. Our experts assure us that when you arrive in the past, you will retain all your memories, and we believe, you will be in a perfect position to complete your assignment.”

 

A cold shiver ran through Reaper's spine, Talon wasn't supposed to know who he was. They were supposed to give him names to cross off his list before getting what was coming for them, and that was it.

 

“Will I?”

“We need a test run, we can't just start sending people in the past. By sending you, we will have an agent with extraordinary resources in a controlled environment, and we get to see what happens when we change things drastically.”

 

“What's in it for me? I'm not going to risk everything just to play the lab-rat.”

Gabriel Reyes remembered Lena Oxton, unstuck from her own time, a ghost, and well... he was in no hurry to rehash _that_ particular failure. “Not even for an obscene amount of money.”

 

“I'd like to think that an obscene amount of money is always a good motivation.”The Talon Suit's smile was ugly

“But you would have more than that. We offer you the chance to fulfill your destiny. “

His lines sounded rehearsed but they chilled him nonetheless. “Kill Jack Morrison, for good this time, and become Strike Commander, Mr Reyes.”

 

Reaper was grateful for the mask, his body language, that he could control. But the expression behind his mask became a snarl before he could do anything about it.

They fucking knew. Of course Talon fucking knew. He was kinda of insulted they didn't seem to be concerned about it.

Killing Jack...

Reaper had...conflicting emotions about Jack Morrison prolonged survival. On one hand, when he saw the Soldier 76's file that Talon had, Reaper felt like the barbed wire that was closing his lungs finally snapped and he could finally breath again. On the other hand, forgiving Jack after the man's death had been so much easier.

 

His betrayal demanded retribution.

 

Jack was in his way and that was bound to end badly for him.

 

Reaper kept repeating himself those things and every time he met him on the battlefield dread and expectation filled Reaper in equal measure. He taunted, lied and cursed him, tried to put as much distance between them as possible, but it had always been an impossible task for Reaper to escape Jack Morrison's orbit.

 

That said, Talon didn't get to use Jack like a bait in front of his nose, order him to jump and expect him to ask how high.

 

Being Strike Commander! That was something he hadn't given any thought in a good while.

No matter what the media, the public, or Talon choose to believe, back then, it hadn't matter to him to be passed over for Jack. It stung his pride a bit, sure, but he used to consider Jack a capable soldier, a good leader, and he had loved the man. He remembered that, even if he couldn't remember how not hating Jack Morrison felt like.

Then Jack had to go and fucked it all up, the organization they built, their life together...on a good day Reaper blamed Jack's shortsightedness, his naivete and his righteousness.

 

On a bad day he wondered how much of the Jack he _thought_ he knew was a lie, and didn't have a comforting answer.

 

He had a shot at preventing all of that, the constant pain of this body of his, the UN and Talon little games, everything.

He could be Gabriel Reyes again.

 

“Tell me how the device works.”

* * *

 

Soldier:76 looked up from his disassembled pulse rifle, the beeping notifications clamoring for his attention.

 

 _Unknown User_ , _voicemail to Morrison, Jack._

 

That was odd, nobody used that number to reach him anymore. Well, nobody used any number to reach him anymore period, but even if they did, it wouldn't be on his personal phone. The only reason Jack still had the old thing were the pictures of Gabe he kept on it.

 

_So sentimental Jack, it's gonna get you killed._

 

Shut up, Gabe, God.

 

Soldier:76 shook his head, chasing away the voice and clicked on the message.

 

_ <<Jack, it's Gabe. I don't know what happened ... Jackie, this is gonna sound crazy but...fuck,no. I'll do this in person. Just, We need to talk, please? I am at Watchpoint:Grand Mesa. I...God, hurry. Love you.>> _

 

Jack stared at the screen, then pressed play again. It didn't matter how many times he listened to the recording, the message stayed the same. It was Gabriel's voice, without the metallic tinge of Reaper's. The same he heard in his head, so many times.

 

Did he finally crack?

 

_Oh Jackie, always making a mess. You cracked a long time ago, mi amor._

 

Jack frowned, took a deep breath. Nope. The voicemail was still there.

 

Was it a trick?

 

The muscle in his jaw clenched, how did Reaper expect him to believe the voicemail? Did he think him _that_ stupid? Did Reaper figure he could just repeat Gabriel's lies and he would walk into a blatant trap?

 

No, he knew better.

 

 _I know your every move before you even think it, always have, always will._  He said that, didn't he?

 

Well then, he knew he was going all right, and he was going to kick Reaper's teeth in.

So there, maybe it _was_ just a really morbid challenge. It worked, after all.

* * *

 

Watchpoint :Grand Mesa didn't change much from the time he raided it for his rifle, except for the lack of security for which Soldier was thankful for.

Helix must have gotten wind of Overwatch reforming and decided playing house sitting was not fun anymore.

He moved through the hallways in absolute silence when finally his enhanced hearing picked up noise.

 

Shuffling of feet, he pushed a door ajar and there it was, the silhouette of a tall man nervously pacing in the middle of Control room, files fanned out on the desk before him.

 

_“Commander, this emergency partition seems to be corrupted. Please call Agent Winston for a diagnostic of my system.”_

 “There’s nobody here except me and you Athena, we’ve been over this. Please, I need those files.”

_“I’m sorry Commander Reyes, I am...confused. Connection to Geneva Mainframe seems to be impossible.”_

 “I bet.”

  _“Sir?”_

“Remember the articles you found yesterday? If HQ blew up, no wonder you can’t establish a connection to the mainframe. I bet nobody hang around to make sure your emergency backups were up to date if Overwatch actually disbanded. Honestly, I’m surprised they didn’t delete you.”

_“It would explain the sensation of confusion I am experiencing, Sir.”_

 “Yeah, no shit. Have you tried calling Jack again?”

  _“Sir, didn’t those articles mentioned the Strike Commander’s death?”_

 “They also said the body was never found. Jack wouldn’t pass up the tactical advantage of making his enemies think he’s dead if he thought the situation required it, and from what I’ve been reading, the situation definitely required it.”

  _“My psychoanalysis subroutine states that denial is a common stage in processing grief.”_

 “Jesus, let’s change the subject, all right? How’s that search coming along?”

_“Results for keyword: teleportation. 1230 files. Results for time traveling: 0 files.”_

 “Well, it was a long shot, I suppose.”

_“Main categories, Slipstream Experiment, Agent Oxton Lena, Chronal Dissociation, Chronal Accelerator blueprint, Agent Winston Log number 3487, 3488,3489…”_

“Wait, stop. You said Chronal Dissociation?As in...being unstuck from your own time, right?”

_“Commander, this emergency partition seems to be corrupted, please call…”_

“Oh for Christ’...okay, okay. Yes, Athena I’ll call Winston in a minute, but for now try answering the question, please.”

 

76 had expected a long dark coat and a white owl skull mask, instead he had found a man in a beanie, hoodie and tactical armor, face exposed and shadowed by worry, too busy arguing with a old AI in need of critical updates to notice he was standing just outside the door.

 He entertained the idea of turning on his heels there and then, whatever Reaper hoped to obtain by...whatever it was that he was doing, it could not be good. His feet were rooted on the spot though, which was unfortunate.

 He must have made a sound, a sharp inhale of breath or something like it, Soldier:76 had no idea, because Gabriel fucking Reyes's attention snapped to him.

 His stance turned defensive, and he raised his fists slightly

 

“Whoever you are, I had the longest day of my life and I am in a shit mood.”

 

Jack's gloved fingers grasped the rifle in his hand so tight he could hear the leather squeak.

 

“What kind of sick game is this, _Reaper_?”

 

Gabriel tilted his head and looked at him like he wasn't speaking English

 “What?”

 

Jack felt his anger choking him, he sprinted toward the ghost and pinned him to the wall, pushing the side of the rifle to his throat

“I can take you trying to shot me in the head, but this...”Jack growled closing his eyes, trying to calm his breath.

 

Jack realized he left an opening as soon as Gabriel took it, the punch in the ribs made him stagger back a few steps, then Gabriel reversed their position and his pulse rifle went clattering to the ground .

Jack's brain, the absolute traitor, sent a spark at being caged by a familiar imposing figure.

 

Nope. None of that.

 

The crunch of Gabriel’s nose after his forehead hit him probably shouldn't have been so satisfying, but it was.

 

“Son of-”

 

Jack didn't waste the precious second Gabe spent instinctively reaching for his bloody nose and the punch snapped Gabriel’s head to the side.

Jack’s knee, when he landed it into the man’s gut, made him bend in half, heaving.

 

Why wasn't Reaper using his nanobots’ technology?

 

“Did you call me here just to torment me with—”

 

With what they used to be? With what Gabriel used to be?He couldn't finish the sentence.

He cursed under his breath and looked down. Gabriel was swaying back up, but didn't get back into a fighting stance.

He met Gabriel's gaze. Jack looked for the spite, the hate, but Gabriel's eyes looked only intently focused. Even...hopeful? Whatever. Jack had learned a long time ago he could not be trusted to read Gabriel truthfully.

 

He felt the fight leaving him and his shoulders sagged. He could stand up to Reaper, but he couldn't fight Gabriel Reyes anymore. Maybe that was the whole point of the charade.

 

“...Jack?” He had the nerve to sound surprised, hurt.

 

Soldier:76 laughed bitterly and swallowed around the knot in his throat

 

“Come on, _Gabe_ , where are your guns?”

 

“Jack, I don't want to…”

“Drop the act”

 

Gabriel looked at him like he was bewildered by the idea of possibly harming him. It made Soldier:76 even angrier.He turned around to walk away

 

“I don't have time to waste here. You can shoot me in the back, if you want, I have a war to win”

“I THINK I'M FROM THE PAST!”

 

Jack blinked behind his mask. _What?_

 

Gabriel raised his hands in an appeasing gesture “Come on, Jackie, it's me.” His voice was pleading.

 

“Seriously?” He spat annoyed,moving to face the man again against his better judgment.“You expect me to believe you _time traveled?_ ”

“I can appreciate how ridiculous it sounds. I would be the first to not believe my story, but I know that it was 2068 yesterday and apparently it's freaking _2076 now!”_

 Jack snorted.“Let's hear it. What day was it?”

 Gabriel scowled “Why are you being so difficult? Don't get me wrong, I'm relieved to know you managed to grow _some_ sense of skepticism in your old age, but...” Jack knew Gabe couldn't see his face but his stone cold annoyance must have come from him in waves because he picked on it and sighed “It was February the fourth.”

 

_It's not working anymore, Jack. We're only hurting each other like this._

 

“Hell of a day you picked to skip town.” Jack could remember tracking how many days passed since that one and thinking

 

_In a week, when he cools down, we'll talk._

  _It's been fifteen days, we can definitely fix it_ now.

  _We haven't seen each other in a month, isn't it enough?_

 

After six months in which Gabriel only talked to him in a professional capacity, and only when strictly necessary Jack had to accept that there was no going back.

Ana had hold him and bought enough alcohol to make him drunk, which was a _lot_ of alcohol, then, six month later she was gone too and Jack never felt so utterly alone.

When people started clamoring for his head, he hadn't really cared, he put up a fight for the sake of Overwatch, because it wasn't only _his_ legacy, but at the end...

“Why? What was going to happen?”Gabriel voice brought him back to the present.  “Is this about your trip to the Slipstream facility?”

 

Oh, he completely forgot about that. 2068 had been a terrible fucking year.

 

“The slipstream.” Jack murmured. Lena Oxton got lost in time on February the fifth.

_“—Yes, Commander, that is what Chronal disassociation means. Oh, It appears someone entered the watchpoint.”_

“Saw him.” Gabriel deadpanned  “Thanks, Athena .” He added with a sarcasm that was lost on the AI.

 

Damn it, Jack was a soldier not a physicist. It occurred to him that he knew one though and _he_ was pretty good.

 A part of Jack wanted to walk away. He had a mission.

 The other part, the old one, reminded him that his whole mission was finishing Gabriel's war, settle the score. Because Reaper may not care anymore about Overwatch or Jack, but Soldier:76 was going to honor the man that Gabriel had been, and he was going to avenge him.

 

“I'll take you to Winston. _If_ you're telling the truth he's the only one who can help.” Jack went to pick up his rifle and Gabe fingers closed around his forearm.

 “Thanks, _cariño.”_ He was smiling warmly and Jack felt his heart break all over again.

 

_You have no idea what I've been through because of you!_

 

Soldier:76 grasped Gabriel's wrist hard, the pressure strong enough to be a crystal clear warning.

 

“Let me get some things straight, _Gabriel._ I'm not Jack Morrison, the poster boy, at your service. Don't speak to me unless you have to, if you can't help yourself you can call me Soldier:76 . But you never, ever, touch me. All clear?”

 Jack saw Gabriel’s handsome features twist in pain and sadness, the whisper, when it reached him was so very soft

  
“Oh Jack...what the hell happened to you?”

 

* * *

 

In the car the silence was tense, Gabe had tried to take his mind off the whole Jack-apparently-hates-my-guts-in -the-future situation by trying to keep figuring out what the fuck happened in the last eight years. Spoiler alert: nothing good.

The bare facts he had uncovered back at the Watchpoint, patching up old newsfeeds, digging up physical files, asking Athena for information that he didn't know how reliable it was since the AI clearly was in a rough state. Gabriel reminded himself to ask Winston to recover her.

Anyway, he had managed. Now, he was trying, and failing to understand _why_ it all happened. That was harder, any idiot with a blog had improvised himself alternatively a psychologist or a political philosopher and wrote essays on the “true” reason behind the Overwatch collapse. He tried sticking to official statements, but even then, their people, who should have known better, had apparently been fantasizing a lot.

 

“This is bullshit!” He snapped, he read out loud the source of his frustration “ _After Morrison's promotion to strike commander, his relationship with Reyes changed. The tension became more pronounced as time went on. I tried to mend things. We all did. Sometimes when the closest bonds break, all you can do is pray you stay out of the cross fire._..AH! Angela was like... six, when we founded Overwatch what the fuck is she talking about?"

 

Jack, well _Soldier:76_ , didn't take his eyes off the road.

 

Gabe resisted the urge of throwing the pad in the back seat "What a load of crap...Well, Adawe's quote is nice."He conceded "If not very complimentary of me. She had a bit of a crush for you, didn't she?"

The soldier's eyebrow twitched "She said those things because she thought I was dead, nobody was very complimentary of me towards the end either, I assure you."

 _"Even I had my doubts about whether Overwatch would succeed...but Morrison never gave up hope. He didn't just meet our expectations for what Overwatch and its agents could achieve; he shattered them."_ Gabriel quoted "Feels sincere to me. And she's right."

 

Gabriel heard the sound of Soldier:76 clenching his fingers around the wheel.

 

"I may have led us to victory but I couldn't have done that without you, you kept us together, made sure we didn't fall apart under the pressure of the world over our shoulders. God, I don't think I ever told you."

"You didn't."

 

Gabriel startled hearing Soldier:76 rasping voice, even if he was actively trying to make the man speak, the barely suppressed emotion in his words shocked him.

"Sorry." He mumbled "I...guess I was more bitter about the promotion that I'd cared to admit. " He waved the pad "Not blowing up a base bitter, obviously, but still. I always wanted to be like you...everyone always wanted to be your friend. I worry too much and never know what to say.” Gabriel pinched the tip of his nose and crossed his arms, embarrassed.

 

People always fawned over Jack, stumbling over themselves to tell him how great he was, and Gabriel had strived not to do that. Jack used to joke that he fell in love with Gabriel when he said to his face his knife technique sucked and corrected him. So, of course, Gabriel Reyes, who already had a horrible relationship with the words “thank you” and “help” had thought telling Jack how fundamental he had been for him, the team, frankly, the whole world, was superfluous. It wasn't like everyone else wasn’t saying it.

He hadn't take into consideration that Jack might have not believed it until _he_ said it.

 

“Look where it got me.”

 

Gabriel fought a smile, Jack still sounded nothing like he was supposed to, but at least he was talking to him. 

“You've been a good Strike Commander Jack, no matter what the politicians say.”

Jack tensed up again and laughed bitterly

“Yes, I've been so good that people called me a _traitor_ and my own fucking ex-fiance waged a war on me.”

 “You can't believe ...wait.” Gabe felt dizzy, the weight of Jack words hit him like a punch in the gut “Stop the car, Jack.”

 “I told you not to call me...”

“STOP THE FUCKING CAR, JACK.”

 

Jack’s foot slammed on the brakes. “What?!”

 

Gabriel fought the nausea settling in his stomach “What do you mean your ex-fiance?”

“ _That's_ the part you're focusing on?”He couldn't be sure, but he suspected Jack was looking at him incredulously, his tone certainly suggested it.

“Yes. When did you break up with me?”

 

Gabe couldn't believe it; yes, him and Jack had a few rough patches here and there since the war finished. But who didn't? They both had horribly stressful jobs, sometimes they had to spend weeks without seeing each other and when they did they had to discuss business before everything else.

He had had...moments. When he resented Jack for the all-consuming nature of his role, when an irrational jealousy of Jack and his faceless mob of fans sucker punched him, when he resented the fact that they never got to make official their relationship. But only moments!

 

“ _Me_ ?” Jack snarled “When did _I_ break up with _you?”_ Gabe felt an ominous feeling sneak up on him “How petty must you be to ask me that?You know what you did, you _must_ have decided that already. You don't need to play nice to get me to help you, I'll fucking take you to Winston even if you don't play the smitten boyfriend.”

“I don't understand.” He didn't. Nothing of what Jack was saying made sense. Gabriel would never. There had never been a doubt in Gabriel's mind that he and Jack would grow old together and retire in some sunny place, Greece maybe.

“In twenty four fucking hours, Gabe!That's your answer. I go to the Slipstream testing, there's an accident, I have to go in front of the press tell everyone I lost an _eighteen years old_ agent and then when I come back home you tell me you've found the ring I've bought for you and you're so very sorry but I must have known it was over a long time ago.”

 

Jack sounded so raw and heartbroken, Gabriel hated himself for it. He would have liked to break his future self's nose so, so bad. He wanted to ask more questions, god, he had so _many_ , but he could see the Soldier was quite volatile and that would have been a terrible idea.

 

“You shouldn't drive.”He said instead.

 Jack punched the side of the car and the glass of the window shattered.In the silence that stretched afterwards the sound of Jack’s heavy breathing was loud. After a few minutes, it finally evened out.

 “And they say I'm the boy scout.”  


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'd like to thank all the people who left kudos and/or commented. It may seem like a small thing but it's really important for me to know you guys appreciate my story. 
> 
> A HUGE thanks to my beta, Su, who's making this readable.

Reaper had expected better from Talon, and as it was, their plan went to shit so fast it made his head spin.  
Not that Reaper had any intention of killing Jack before being absolutely certain about how truly deep his  betrayal was. Talon wanted him dead, but that didn't mean anything. They weren't the kind of organization to hesitate in killing off one of their own if it was in their own best interest.

 

Soldier:76 would never talk to Reaper, nor Reaper trusted himself to be civil with him long enough to have any real answer. Jack Morrison, on the other hand, given the right incentives...  
  
Anyway, he was supposed to activate the device in a safe house in Colorado,which he had. Then get his bearings there, reacquaint himself with the body and the identity of Gabriel Reyes and reach Watch-point: Grand Mesa from there.  
  
Well, that didn't happen.

 

The constant low-key buzzing pain of his cells decaying and regenerating was a familiar companion and made Talon’s miscalculation evident to him before anything else. He wanted to scream in frustration. Instead he dug his clawed fingers into his palms, and forced himself to take in his surroundings.

 

Not only did he still have all the joys of his wraith body, but he also had popped in the middle of a painfully familiar room. It was his and Jack's room, back at Geneva, when the Watch-point was more than a pile of rubble.

He could smell Jack’s aftershave and their laundry detergent, the flowers Gabe had insisted he could grow on the windowsill (he couldn’t, if there was an opposite of a green thumb, Gabriel had it. Ana had to pass by every chance she got to water the plants),and they stirred memories he thought completely lost.  
His arrival had scorched the floor in a perfect circle, the glass of the window had shattered and scattered all over the place.

  
The device core light had fizzled and died out.  
  
“Gabe?! Are you alright?I heard...” The door hissed open, Reaper made sure to disappear out of Jack’s sight and teleport himself just behind him.  
  
Reaper had thought that in these six years, grief and nostalgia had tinted his memories rosier than they actually were.

 

Surely.

 

Apparently not. Jack Morrison's eyes really were as blue as he remembered, his hair, even if they were streaked with gray already, looked like spun gold. He must have been in the shower because he only had his stupid too-small shirt on him, and a pair of sweatpants. He was beautiful and handsome, with drops of water still clinging to his eyelashes and his feet bare.  
  
God, Reaper's breath stopped for a while there.

He followed Jack’s movements as he scouted the room, his feet shying away from the broken glass, the gun he must have grabbed hurriedly from the coat rack in the entryway where he usually left it.

 

“Gabe?”

 

Right. He wasn't Gabriel Reyes. He didn't love the man in front of him, not anymore.  
Reaper told himself if he kept repeating it, it may just become true.

Jack had always been fast, faster than him even back in S.E.P, if Reaper couldn't neutralize him quickly and quietly, Jack would have the time to call in Athena and then the whole damn Watchpoint would barge in.

 

It was a good thing Jack and Gabriel had insisted that Athena would give them privacy while in their own quarters, otherwise this whole mission would have been over before it started.

 

As black smoke, he slithered behind Jack’s back. Jack froze when he felt the barrel of one of his hellfire shotgun nudging the top of his head.

 

He raised his hands making a show of pulling his finger away from the trigger.

  
“What have you done to Gabriel Reyes?” His voice was cold, collected, professional. It didn't fool Reaper for a second. “if you hurt him…”

 

 _Sweet, sweet irony_ , Reaper thought.  
  
Had Gabriel Reyes forever vanished from existence when he traveled back? Reaper couldn't bring himself to mourn his old self very much, if the guy had known what would happen in the next two years, he would be glad to have kicked the bucket when he did.  
  
“Nothing, yet. And nothing will happen as long as you cooperate, Strike Commander Morrison.”

The muscle in Jack’s jaw clenched

 

“What do you want?”

 

* * *

 

Reaper knew Jack too well to think he would just going along without a backup plan, he had always been impulsive not stupid. 

Unfortunately for Jack, Reaper knew all of his tricks, after all he was the spy between the two of them and it was fairly easy to unfold all the Strike Commander’s attempts to call for backup.  
  
“I know you.”  
  
Jack managed to look heroic and proud even tied up to a chair, in the humid damp darkness of a safe house.  
  
“They call you Reaper, you're a mercenary.” Reaper hands stilled on the handcuffs he was closing. “Please” Jack continued “Gabriel Reyes is my fiancé, I need to know that he's okay, it's not much to ask, is it?”  
  
Of course Jack would try to talk himself out of this, trying to establish a connection with his kidnapper.  
Jack Morrison, with his pretty blue eyes and his silver tongue, no wonder the politicians couldn't wait to plaster him over every holo feed instead of him.  
  
He tightened the cuff more than strictly necessary, Jack choked down a pained moan.

“You should worry about yourself, Strike Commander.”

Reaper circled the man like a hungry shark “I will ask you some questions, and it would be better for everyone if you were to be honest with me.” He threatened in a low voice.  
  
Jack's muscles tensed against his bindings, Reaper could tell he was trying to hold his temper

“Ask.” He said in a clipped tone.

Reaper leaned forward, the bone white mask hovering near Jack's ear “William Petras, how much do you actually know about him?”    
  
Jack kept staring at the wall in front of him, refusing to flinch from the closeness Reaper was imposing “Petras is the under secretary of the United Nation, he has a Wikipedia page, you can consult it.”  
  
Reaper walked in front of him and squatted to search Jack's face. Gabriel Reyes had been a master in catching lies, but Jack had become pretty good at lying in the years he had to go in front of the press as Strike Commander. He remembered the days Jack couldn't lie about his favorite movie without blushing. (It was Hamilton and he didn't want people to know he was ridiculously into musicals even if he couldn't sing for shit.)

Those days were definitely over.

  
“Do you know it's him giving the orders to Blackwatch?”

 

Jack scowled , “Gabriell Adawe gives us our orders and I decide which missions to assign to Blackwatch.”  
  
Reaper clenched his fists “Petras is Talon.”  
  
Jack rolled his eyes “Oh my god, you're a conspiracy theorist.”  
  
Reaper laughed bitterly, Jack's accusing him of being paranoid? Now that was familiar.

“Look, I am not saying there are not particular interests at play in the UN, of course there are,” Jack argued in the reasonable, charming tone of voice he usually reserved for reporters.“but as fascinating as it may be to believe it, there is no secret organization acting as a mastermind behind Overwatch or the United Nations.”

  
“You know, the press was going to ask you this question but I'll go ahead and do it for them, did you sanctioned a Blackwatch operation in Vladivostok?” Reaper stood up and caught Jack's chin to force him to look up at him “A week ago, a Blackwatch squad set fire to Chekov Labs, a couple of scientists died.”  
  
“Bullshit. “Jack hissed through his teeth “Blackwatch may be our covert branch but they're not murderers. They're loyal to what Overwatch stand for!”  
  
Reaper recalled the first time they asked Jack about Vladivostok, Gabriel was watching the holovid and he froze when the reporter had asked about it because it had been awful and the only thing that let him sleep at night, one black op after another, was that Jack was ordering them and there must have been a good fucking reason to ask him to kill two civilians.  
  
It hadn't even been the most horrifying thing Gabriel had done that came from a document with Jack Morrison's signature on it.  
  
When he had refused to take responsibility for it and, just like now, had call them murderers and criminals, Gabriel had felt hollow. Either Jack was lying and he was throwing him under a bus, in which case Gabriel had given everything to someone who could discard his sacrifices and those of his men without blinking, or he was sincere. A blind too-trusting idiot, but sincere. In that case, Gabriel _was_ a murderer. How could he stay with Jack, after all that? How could he stay without discovering the truth, first? He never did though, when everything had gone up in flames and he thought Jack had died, he even rued himself.  
For wasting the little time they had, for letting Jack think that he didn't love him anymore.  
  
“The mission was led by Gabriel Reyes himself.”

  
“Liar!” Jack roared. “How dare you accuse Gabriel of something like this! He would never kill innocent people, he's a hero!” A part of Reaper rejoiced at being defended so staunchly by Jack, the other supplied to him all the faces of the people he did kill, before and after becoming a monster, the image of corpses withered and twisted, and wished it were still true.  
  
“Jesse McCree was also there. The kid lost a fucking arm during the op. That's why Gabriel ditched you last minute, you were supposed to look for houses...”  
  
_I haven't lived off base since I was eighteen, Gabe. Sometimes I feel a prisoner here._  
  
“But he spent the night in the infirmary with him, Angela Ziegler is worried Gabriel blames himself.”

She was right too. He had never quite forgiven himself for what happened to Jesse, it felt like the first of his long list of failures.

 

Jack gaped and paled “How do you know all of this?”

 

“Gabriel Reyes’ calls and messages, Talon has been intercepting them. Plus, they have some people in medical and not only there.”

 

Finding out that information had been a slow process; he had to gain Talon trust, being granted enough freedom inside their bases and rummage through their files. It took him two years to find where they stored the data he was looking for. No matter how much he wanted to he couldn't blow his position in the organization downloading too much stuff at once so he set to go through it slowly, without attracting unwanted attention to himself.

 

There had been no file with his name on it, that would have been a bit obvious, but he had managed to find the surveillance operation they had run on him, he had meant to search for Jack’s next, hoping it would clear up his position once and for all. Instead, the next fucking day by design or sheer dumb luck, Soldier 76 blew up the base.

 

It had driven Reaper absolutely insane.

 

Taking care of the Talon agents who had helped to compile his file had done little to make him feel better.

 

“It...it’s impossible.”

 

“How else would I know?” Jack didn't answer, he kept shaking his head with a dazed expression on his face.

 

“Did you, or did you not sign the order for Blackwatch to go to Vladivostok burn that goddamn lab to the ground and make sure the scientists didn't get out?”

 

“I...never...of course I wouldn't order... That's not what Overwatch...How...”

He could see Jack's brain connecting the dots, he gritted his teeth “Petras? That's why you were asking about him? Is he forging my fucking orders?”  
  
Reaper nodded. “Blackwatch agents killed, bled and died for you, and you would hang them out to dry. Gabriel included.” He sneered “And I'm asking myself how could you not notice?Your own organization, your own fiancé .” Reaper grabbed a fistful of blonde hair “I think, for all your posturing and protesting, maybe you like the spotlight, you bask under their praise.” he spat angrily “Jack Morrison the Strike Commander of Overwatch, the golden boy who ushered in an era of progress and peace.”  
  
He let Jack go, he looked stricken, horrified, his eyes wide. “Things are so great for you; you weren't about to question them, were you?”  
  
Jack lowered his head. Reaper felt oddly unsatisfied. He had voiced his darkest thoughts because he wanted to hurt the man in front of him, and now that he did it, all he had left were regrets and shame. The voices of his better angels spoke about how vehemently Jack had protested the promotion, how taxing it was for him being constantly in the public eye, how hard he found it to believe the people who spoke well about him and how easily he believed his worst critics.

  
They reminded Reaper of all the times he woke up to find Jack at his desk, dark circles under his eyes _I'll be just a second, Gabe_ He used to say. _This is important_.

  
Gabriel had lost his temper sometimes, when he was tired and spent by his job, _Sometimes it feels like you care more about Overwatch than you do about me,_ he would say testily.

 

 _You know I wouldn't care so much if it wasn't for you._ And Gabriel did know that. That in Jack's mind, despite the fact the Jack had been Strike commander for decades against Gabriel few years, Overwatch had always been Gabriel's.  
  
_I'm just a soldier_ Jack would say, kissing his lips _Your soldier._ He'd grin _I'll make you proud_ .  
  
Presently, Jack's face was hidden by his hair, the line of his shoulder trembled, the silence in the room was broken only by Jack's heavy breaths and a dripping sound, the faintest scent of blood in the air.  
  
“Stop” Reaper murmured tiredly “you're hurting yourself.” There was a narrow red line of blood from his wrists to his hands when the metal had bitten too harshly into the skin.  
Jack glared up to him, there was a dangerous spark in his eyes that was more Soldier 76 than Strike Commander Morrison.  
  
“Why are you telling me this?” Jack croaked “don't you work for them?”  
  
Reaper let out a dark chuckle. “Talon is just a means to an end. We're after the same people you and I, Strike Commander.” The suggestion was clear in his voice.  
  
“If you want my help, you'll let me talk to Gabriel.”  
  
Reaper had been thinking about that, he took out a communicator “Talking is too dangerous, but you can exchange messages with this.” Jack stared at the device hungrily. “Behave.” He ordered.  
Reaper freed Jack's hands “I'll leave you to it.” He almost didn't have time to step into the adjacent room before the twin communicator vibrated in his pocket, he let the door close behind before taking it out.  
  
_ <<Identity confirmation required. 0089.>> _  
  
Jack and Gabriel had come up with the protocol during the Crisis, it had been useful on a number of occasions. Jack's confirmation messages were always food related, Gabriel's were lewd. He had seemed funny at the time the idea of Jack blushing to the root of his hair in the middle of the battlefield.  
  
**_< <The first time you gave me a blowjob, you swallowed because you thought it would be sexy and you looked absolutely betrayed by the taste of it .>>_ ** Reaper's fingers paused on the keys, then typed out his call sign, it was quite easy to remember, it was his id number back in SEP.  
  
_ <<Gabe, thank god. Are you ok?>> _  
  
**_< <I'm good, I think these guys are waiting for something because they keep dodging Talon's calls.>>_ **  
  
_ <<That would be me, Reaper wants me to go on the hunt with him>> _  
  
**_< <Romantic.>> _ ** He heard Jack’s wet giggle from the other room.  
  
_ <<Tall, dark and mysterious,what can I say, I have a type.>> _  
  
**_< <I can't say I'm crazy on how he enlisted your help, but it's not a bad idea.>>_ **  
  
_ <<Seriously? You don't want me to ride on my steed to save you?>> _  
  
**_< <Thanks, Prince Charming, but I'll be fine. Reaper was the main threat, without him I have the situation under control>>_ **  
_  
_ <<Angela’s boring nanotechnology explanations didn't quite cut it, did they?>>

 

They really didn’t. Reaper remembered sitting through a bunch of briefings, with Angela trying to show in a slide presentation the ins and outs of nanotechnology that made possible for a terrorist to go around and feed off people’s...life energy.

 _  
_ Souls. Reaper called them souls, even if Jack would have accused him of being melodramatic. And now he wished he had paid a little more attention. At the time, he remembered commenting that the only thing he was interested in was if the man could die.

 

He could, Gabriel Reyes had neutralized Reaper six months before the explosion, Angela had been ecstatic at the fact, she now had samples to further her research.  
  
**_< <Do I have to be jealous?>>_ **  
  
_ <<Ah.Ah. I'm just saying I'll keep a close eye on her work from now on.>> _  
  
**_< <That's never a bad thing. The girl has a god complex.>>_ ** ****__  
  
<<You're too hard on her.>>

 

 _I’m really not._ He thought bitterly.

 

Reaper had never found out if it had been Talon with Angela’s tech or Angela herself that was the architect of his unnatural journey back from the dead. The result was the same either way.  
  
**_< <I want to make a boner joke, but I won't because she's 29 and I'd feel like a horny old man.>>_ **  
_  
_ _ <<You _are a horny old man>>

 

Reaper scoffed and fought a smile. Talking to Jack as Gabriel instead of Reaper made him feel almost human again.  
  
**_< <Pot. Kettle. 0076 Out.>>_ **

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Reaper has been a challenge to write and I hope you like the result!
> 
> 1\. I'm going through an Hamilton phase (I know, I'm late to the party), in 2068 there totally is a movie and OF COURSE it's Jack's favorite, come on.
> 
> 2.Reaper's bio states that he's been active for decades, and Micheal Chu confirmed it's on purpose. For me it would be VERY weird if it had always been Gabriel. So, in this story, Gabriel simply picked up an identity that already existed. On HOW he came to have the same powers as the last Reaper, well, more on that in the next chapter.
> 
> 3.I will also expand on why Soldier 76 is going by Gabriel's SEP number instead of his, but it's not a huge mystery...


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> mind the rating ~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1.There's a quite a bit of self hate on Jack's part in this chapter, I do not share his opinions in the slightest.  
> 2.I tried and failed at Jesse's speech...I'm sorry.  
> 3.Do you guys prefere longer chapter with rarer updates (like this one) or shorter chpaters more frequently? Let me know!

 

“ _I don't understand.” Jack said._

 

“ _The UN thinks that as Overwatch makes the transition from a military to a peacekeeping organization, the leadership should change accordingly. I've personally recommended you.”_

 

_Jack looked at Gabrielle Adawe and crossed his arms_

 

“ _Well, thanks, but no thanks.”_

 

“ _Commander Morrison” She sighed “I don't think you understand, it's either you or Captain Amari. Strike Commander Reyes is simply not an option.”_

 

_He saw Gabriel tense in his peripheral vision, the older man was trying to look impassive but that didn't fool Jack for a second. He turned to Ana._

 

“ _Don't look at me! I promised myself I would spend more time with Fareeha if I survived this war, and I’ve earned it. ” She shrugged “It's just a job title, anyway, I'm sure Gabriel doesn't even mind, right?”_

 

_Gabriel waved his hand._

 

 _Oh, he minded. Jack_ knew _he minded, Gabriel acted like he didn't care for anything people said, but deep down he measured his own worth on how good at his job he was. For Ana, and for Jack to be honest, being Strike commander was just paperwork and a PR nightmare, but for Gabriel it was recognition, validation._

 

“ _This is outrageous!” He insisted._

 

“ _It's politics. We will need a diplomat, and Reyes, no offense, you're many extraordinary things, but certainly not that.”_

 

_Jack kept shaking his head “No. Nope. No!”_

 

“ _Jack, don't be stupid.” Gabriel walked to him, rested a hand to his shoulder “It's a once in a lifetime opportunity. Let's not hand over Overwatch to someone who didn't earn it.”_

 

_Jack sighed “Fine.” he muttered, then glared at Adawe “But when I' marry one of my commanders, I better not hear a fucking word about fraternization!”_

 

_Gabe smiled at him with an eyebrow raised “Did you just propose?”_

 

_Ana whooped and whistled, Jack opened his mouth and closed it again_

 

“ _No!” He shuffled on his feet “...Yes?” He slapped his hand on Gabriel's lips, his eyes were warm and full of emotion and made Jack's gut twist in knots “Wait, don't answer yet, I'm going to do it properly! I had a plan!” He removed his hand, Gabriel laughed._

 

“ _Sure you did, sunshine.”_

 

Soldier 76 woke up in stages, the memory of Gabe's smile and the sound of his voice slowly fading. He didn't remember how it felt to open his eyes and not immediately feel a wave of regret and grief washing over him. It didn't matter if in his dreams Gabriel loved him or hated him, the present was still disappointing.

He sat up slowly, swung his legs to the side of the bed, his feet touching the floor. He hung his head and stroke the nape of his neck.

 

Gabriel Reyes was still sleeping in the bed at the other end of the room. His beanie rested on the nightstand and his clothes folded in a nearby chair in a show of military tidiness that Gabriel had never been able to shrug off.

Jack Morrison too had been a good little soldier, kept his space in order and his clothes spotless.

Soldier 76 found himself out of fucks to give.

He raided the minibar for “breakfast” and opened the window, leaned on his elbows on the windowsill, and switched on his comm.

 

“You better have an explanation for missing our check in, or so help me Jack.” Ana's voice was annoyed but still fond at the same time. Jack tapped a box of cigarettes and took one out.

 

“I do. It's good.”

 

“I'm all ears.”

 

“Are you still in Gibraltar?”

 

“Yes. And that's a question not an explanation.”

 

Jack had been relieved when Ana left, he felt guilty about it, but he could see it in her eyes that she was expecting someone who just wasn't there anymore. During Christmas, when he knew she was missing Fareeha much more acutely, he encouraged her to answer the Recall and join Overwatch. _“I need to know who I can trust in there”_ He said. That was true enough, but also he didn't want to see the pity she failed to hide on her face.

 _“Come with me”_ She had tried to convince him, of course. She insisted he shouldn't be alone.

 _“I'll join Overwatch again when hell freezes over.”_ Had been his answer.

 

“I can't explain over comms, let's say I have a guest that needs Winston's help, do I have to worry about getting arrested if I show my face?”

 

“I'll make sure it doesn't happen. Jack?“ There was a short pause “Are you taking care of yourself?”

 

Soldier 76 inhaled the smoke, it came out as he opened his mouth to reply “Sure I am.”

 

“You toned down the alcohol intake?”

 

Jack eyed the little bottles of the minibar scattered across the table. So sue him, it wasn't everyday your ex time travels back into your life. Even Ana would cut him some slack.

 

“Uh-uh.”

 

“And the smoking?”

 

He took another puff, pressing his right eye with the heel of his hand “Following the doctor's orders.” He lied.

 

“I wished you trusted me, Jack.” She sounded sad.

 

_You made her upset, how long until she too gives up on you, cariño?_

 

“I'm sorry, Ana.”

 

“I know. See you soon, Jack.”

 

Jack put out the cigarette and flicked the butt out the window.

 

“Since when do _you_ smoke?”

 

At first, Jack didn't answer. It was better not to indulge the voice in his head, it tended to get vicious. And he knew it was just in his head, ok? He _knew_ it was just the guilt or something, whatever. It wasn't like he didn't deserve anything his brain could throw at him.

 

The noise of a chair being pulled made him turn.

 

Oh, Gabriel was actually there.

 

He was shirtless, his hand ruffling his curls while he stifled a yawn. His expression turned serious when he raised a judgmental eyebrow at Jack's breakfast remains, the empty bags of snacks and the bottles of hard liquor. Jack wished he had put his mask and visor on as soon as he woke up. Once Gabriel was done silently criticizing his diet choices he could feel Gabriel’s attention move on to his face. He didn't ask about the scars and didn't comment on how old Jack looked.

 

Soldier 76 wondered if he had scared him with his outburst the day before, Jack had never been a punch-things-in-rage kind of person, but his old age was gifting him a never ending string of dubious surprises.

 

“I’ve been smoking since the Crisis ended. Shows how much you know.”

 

Gabriel frowned “I didn't notice.” He sounded hurt and something inside Jack urged him to console him. Old habits, he guessed.

 

“Stop looking like I sneaked around your back to sacrifice critters, I just never smoked when you were there cause I didn't need it, of course you never noticed.” He reached for another cigarette, but Gabe covered them with his hand

 

“I'm here now.” 76 stared and Gabriel stared back.

 

“Put a fucking shirt on.” He grumbled, relenting his grip on the package. Gabriel tossed it away like it had personally offended him.

“Why? Is it bothering you?” his stupid perfect lips were quirked into a smirk.

 

Yes. Jack wanted to say, it makes me feel good things, and I don't do that anymore. The sun seemed to filter through the window just to caress Gabe’s body like a lover. Jack remembered how it felt to let his fingertips slide down his chest, following the shapes of his muscles, the trail of hair that started just under his belly button and ...He snorted cutting that line of thought.

 

“Please, _querido,_ it's nothing I haven't seen before.”

 

“Your accent is _still_ terrible. You could have bothered to learn how to roll your _r, at least,_ if you wanted to make a decent ‘Gabriel Reyes’ impression.” He nodded toward the jacket, crumpled on the floor a few feet from them.“76, my SEP number. I noticed, you know?”

 

Soldier 76 took a step away from him “You wouldn't understand.”

 

Gabriel hand shot up, his fingers stopped just inches from Jack’s skin.

 

“Make me understand Jack, please. I've tried to make sense of all this and I can't...I...”

 

If Soldier 76 had thought it through he wouldn't have leaned into Gabriel's touch, for one it had not historically worked out really well for him, and two he was trying to make a _point_. Similarly to when he jumped in front of a grenade to save that kid in Dorado, Soldier 76 tried to push in a direction and Jack Morrison just jumped into the other, feet first without looking.

 

He would get mad at himself later.

 

Jack let his eyes flutter close, Gabe’s thumbs stroke softly the line of his cheekbones. How many years had it been since he had  touched him with tenderness? Jack's memory had never been as good as Gabriel's, he couldn't remember. Did they kiss in the morning before Jack went to that stupid press conference? Was something already amiss? This Gabriel Reyes swore that it wasn't, but surely it had to be, for Gabriel to make his mind up so quickly about leaving him?

 

“You claimed Overwatch was corrupt.”Jack heard himself saying “That was all you talked about for months, when you bothered to speak to me face to face, that is. I wanted to fix things, but you always went back to Overwatch.”

 

There had been so many discussions, so much yelling, Jack couldn't quite tell the episodes one from the other.

 

“I thought you were just being an asshole because of the break up.” Jack knew _intimately_ how cruel Gabriel could get when he was angry, and at the time the endless accusations had seemed like a defense mechanism.

 

“The day of the explosion you said...”

 

_‘I'm at war, Jack and I need to know if you're my friend or my enemy. You can recognize Overwatch has a problem and work with me or I bring it all down and I don't care who goes down with it.’_

 

Gabriel had meant it. Jack had seen it in his eyes.Jack remembered _that_ with crystal clear clarity.

 

“You said…”

 

By that time, defending Overwatch had been such an ingrained habit and Jack wouldn't listen. ‘ _I'll protect Overwatch, even from you_.’ He had said.

 

 _It's the only thing I have left of you_. He had only admitted in the privacy of his thoughts.

 

“You gave me a choice and I choose very fucking poorly. I didn't believe you.”

 

“Was it true? Was Overwatch compromised?”

 

Jack ducked his head and laughed bitterly “It was. I found that out later. After the HQ blew up, I did some digging. But the rogue agents weren’t the real problem. The fucking _UN_ was compromised, Talon had been pulling our strings for God knows how long.”

He tried to speak firmly, to not show emotion, but his voice was weak and Gabriel's stare seemed to pierce right through him. “I thought you were dead.”

 

Jack could still feel the heat of the flames around them, the air stale with the lack of oxygen, his face getting numb from pain and wet with blood. He had watched first responders put Gabriel into a body bag, he had tried to scream but the smoke had damaged his vocal cords and no sound would came out of his mouth. By the time people came back to continue the search he had freed himself from the rubble and left only a shit ton of blood behind him.

 

Then the chips started to fall; people who had called for him to be court martialed publicly cried for poor Jack Morrison, the martyr, and branded Gabriel Reyes a traitor. Jack had listened to the news feeds while stitching himself up and his blood had boiled.

 

“You were disgraced. Forgotten. I couldn't bear it.”

 

Jack had followed the rules and people had died, he had defied orders and people had rioted against him.

 

“So yes, I'm doing my best ‘Gabriel Reyes’ impression because there is a war to be won and being Jack Morrison sucked anyway.” The world had never needed Strike Commander Morrison, he had only brought misery and pain in the life of everyone who knew him.

 

Jack was suddenly engulfed by the warmth of Gabriel's embrace, he was trembling, to be honest, they both were. Gabriel's breath tickled his ear when he spoke softly “I'm sorry...” He murmured over and over “I'm sorry.”

God, Gabriel still smelled exactly like he remembered. There was the deodorant he used, the detergent they shared for their clothes, and something else that was uniquely Gabriel.

 

His hands grabbed Gabriel’s arms, his fingertips digging into his smooth bronze skin so hard he might have been leaving bruises. Gabe’s distanced himself just enough to look Jack in the eye, probably trying to guess if his grip had been a warning to stop or a encouragement for more. Jack hoped Gabriel would figure it out, because _he_ had no idea.

 

Their noses were a hair’s breadth to each other.

 

It was a bad idea.

 

Jack tilted his head to meet Gabriel's lips anyway. Desire roared through him as he claimed Gabriel's mouth. He drank from the kiss like he would die if he didn't, it certainly felt like it. His brain protested the rush of endorphins.

 

_I should stop._

 

_I don't deserve this._

 

_Gabriel wouldn't kiss me if he knew._

 

“Wait.” Gabriel was giving him soft butterfly kisses, on his eyelids, on his necks, on the corner of his mouth. It made Jack feeling flushed all over. As soon as the word tumbled out Jack’s mouth, he froze.

Gabriel’s eyes seemed very sad, he cradled one of Jack’s hands into his own, his thumb making slow circles on the back of it.

 

“I’m here, Jack, I’m not some ghost from the past. I’m here.”

 

Gabe positioned their hand over his chest, and under his fingertip Jack could hear just how fast his heart was beating.

 

“Take the leap, Jack.” Gabriel breathed, because he had always been uncannily good at reading him. Apparently Jack hadn't changed as much as he hoped.

 

_I know your every move before…_

 

“It's what you do best.”

 

Reaper's voice was drowned in the solid reality of Gabriel's, husked and hungry, and just _there_ , teasing his lips.

 

Jack took the leap.

 

“Jack...” Jack could feel the hardness of Gabriel's cock against his side, his strong hands were grasping his ass “Mmh...How is your ass is _still_ carved from fucking granite.”

 

Jack shoved him against the wall, a moan escaped Gabriel's throat, Jack's dick throbbed at the sound.

 

“Sure you're not too old to fuck me against the wall?” Gabe said playfully. He sounded nonchalant, but his hair was ruffled and his pupils wide.

Jack couldn't help the smirk cracking his face, he pinned Gabriel and grabbed a powerful thigh to make him lift his leg. Fuck Gabriel Reyes and his perfect fucking thighs. The man's breath hitched .

 

“Some things only get better with age.”

 

His mouth was back on Gabriel's, his tongue got sucked with wild enthusiasm. Jack was glad they were so very busy because he felt like he could cry if he stopped thinking about the fact he was _finally_ kissing Gabriel again. It felt like the breaths he took between one kiss and the other were the first he drew in years.

Gabriel scrambled to push Jack's shirt up, when he finally managed to get him topless, Jack heard him gasp.

 

Gabriel was looking at him, at his torso, his eyebrows knit in a sad and focused expression. His fingers trembled, running along the scars from six years prior. There was a scar where a rebar had stuck into his stomach, cuts and burns. Not enough to make Jack self conscious - which he wouldn't be anyway because who the hell saw him naked anymore?

The most aggravating and long lasting effect had been the damage to his airways but since he could still breath fine, Jack didn't think about it much, he had been so lucky it disgusted him.

 

Even the damage to his face that could have easily blinded him, had just given him a couple of scars.

They bisected his damned poster boy mug and Jack kinda of liked them for it.

 

All considered, they really weren't too bad given that a building collapsed on him.

 

But still, a building collapsed on him. Gabe should have known, he was there.

 

Jack stilled, the doubts he thought he left behind came back to him as vicious whispers of the past.

 

_He did this to me, Ana._

 

_You are my friend or my enemy._

 

_You have no idea what I've been through because of you!_

 

_We're only hurting each other like this._

 

Jack dropped him like he just got burned, and only Gabriel's enhanced reflexes let him avoid an undignified fall.

 

“Jackie, what is it?”

 

Jack picked up his shirt and put it back on. He started to assemble his gear with sharp methodical movements, a stony expression on his face.

 

Of course Gabriel paused, of course his scars were a surprise to him. Jack, on the other hand, should have know fucking better.

 

“Jack, talk to me.”

 

 _Did you really forget, Jack? Poor Jackie, for a while there you forgot that I_ hate _you, didn’t you?_

 

“We should get moving. Dress up.”

 

_You forgot that you don't deserve any of this._

 

“Jack, please.”

 

_That it's YOUR fault I died in infamy? If only you had listened to me, querido..._

 

I know, I know, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry.

 

Soldier 76 clasped his mask and visor back on and zipped up his jacket.

 

 _Isn't it worse if I did actually love you? You screwed up even worse than you thought. Aren't you_ tired _of messing up, Jack?_

 

 _“-_ Jack!”

 

“Shut up!” He barked, at the both of them. Soldier 76 clenched his fist to hide the tremor in his hand “We're leaving in ten.”

 

* * *

 

After their impromptu makeout session, Jack regressed back to cold and quiet. Gabriel was pissed, he knew he shouldn't be, but he was. He was in an absurd situation and wanted Jack by his side, even if it was and older, more bitter version of Jack who sounded like he was gargling marbles. Instead, Jack seemed decided to keep him at arm’s length.

 

For a while Gabriel wondered if Jack was feeling cheated on his past self’s behalf but Gabriel thought that would be pretty stupid, if it were the case. For all their differences, and Jack’s protests, Soldier 76 and Jack Morrison just weren't different people. To Gabriel it felt like he had come home after a long while and something horrible had happened to Jack. He wanted to help, but Jack, as goddamn always, was being stubborn about it.

 

No, Gabriel knew what was bothering Jack and it wasn't that Gabriel was cheating on 2068!Jack, Gabriel suspected it was, rather that Jack felt like he was cheating on 2076!Gabriel.

And it was driving Gabriel absolutely crazy. He was being measured up to someone who thoroughly failed Jack in apparently every aspect of his life, and he was _losing_ because in Jack's eyes Jerk!Gabriel could do no wrong.

 

He still didn't understand why he was being such a dick in the future. From what he could gather Gabriel had figured it out that Overwatch was compromised and tried to tell Jack and Jack hadn't listened.

 

 _Of course he didn't listen, you broke his fucking heart._ Gabe was really questioning his future self good judgment.

Gabriel had meant to research more about the day he time traveled but he kept being side tracked by Jack's odd behavior.

 

Jack was a boy-scout, always had been. Gabriel had mocked him endlessly about it. He was impulsive and didn't have any patience, but he followed orders and believed rules were there for a reasons. Jack Morrison made breakfast to his one night stands and called them to let them know what a wonderful night it had been, and asked how your nana was, didn't you say she didn't feel well lately?

 

_Can it be called a one night stand if you end up making friends?_

_Well, I can't just pretend they don't exist after we had sex!_

_Yes, that's exactly what you're supposed to do, Jack._

 

Gabriel had been so fucking jealous back in SEP, of Jack’s pretty, pretty face, his horde of fans and friends and his wholesome lifestyle.

 

2076 Jack was still handsome, magnetic in a completely different way, but just as powerful.

 

He was also a train wreck. He didn't eat enough, he drank too much, he smoked like there was no tomorrow, he didn't interact with real people if he could help it. He stole two different cars during their trip, falsified documents and beat the shit out of a couple of idiots who had thought the old man at the bar looked like an easy target.

 

“How the fuck did you find the money to spend on a jet if you legally dead?” Gabriel wondered out loud while they left the airstrip

 

“This one was property of a Talon associate, he won't need it anymore.”

 

“You killed a Talon spy and stole his jet?”

 

“He owed me.”

 

He hoped he got the chance to have a couple of words with his counterpart, none of this was acceptable and Gabriel Reyes, no matter the year, should know better.

 

Watchpoint Gibraltar seemed wrong without the buzzing noise of the recruits chatting on the premises, the training exercises and all the comings and goings that made it so busy in his time.

Gabriel couldn't hear any sound coming from it, it just stood there sad and quiet. For the first time, he wondered where the others ended up.

 

“Stay in the car.”

 

Gabriel patted the seat “Of course, Jack, I’ll be good and stay in the stolen property.”

 

The angles of Jack’s mouth turned down but he didn’t dignified his sass with an answer.

76 walked to the nearest building and fiddled with his com, five minutes later a hooded figure approached and they hugged.

A pang of jealousy stabbed him through his ribs, he sulked until the new arrival's hood fell back. Even if her hair were now white as snow and her right eye was covered by an eye-patch, Gabriel recognized the unmistakable face of Ana Amari. He was about to leap out of the car to greet her but Jack turned his head to stare him down, which felt pretty patronizing since the car windows were one-way glass and Jack had no way to know he was about to do.

 

“Good thing you're here, _habibi._ Winston believes we have an emergency on our hands.” They were getting closer and Gabriel could hear the concern in her voice.

 

“What kind of emergency?”

 

“Talon got their dirty hands on Tracer's accelerator a while back and he has recently intercepted messages in which they talk about building their own time machines.”

 

“That sounds about right.”

 

“What do you mean?”

 

Jack opened the door of the car and Gabriel stepped out, Ana's sharp breath caught him by surprise. He opened his arms, but she was looking at him like she saw a ghost. A look he was a bit used to by now, but still, it bothered him.

 

“Hey, mama bear.” Her face crumpled and he was pulled into a surprisingly tight hug for such a cute old lady.

 

She demanded to be brought up to speed on everything that happened since he arrived in the future. Well, she said present, since, of course, it was the present for them. Gabriel explained to her being in his room at the Geneva HQ and then suddenly the sky went black and popped up into a nondescript safe house in Colorado. He told her about getting to the nearest watch point, activating a glitchy Athena, trying to figure out if he actually traveled through time or if he was losing his marbles, calling Jack and how Jack thought Winston could help. For obvious reasons he glossed over the more adult rated part of the last couple of days.

 

From the mischievous spark in her eyes, she heard it anyway.

 

“We should go see Winston immediately. We have a few people here that may recognize you so if you want to avoid that, you should prepare yourself accordingly.”

 

“Why should I? Who's here?”

 

“Angela, Fareeha, Lena, Reinhardt, Torbjörn would be here if he weren’t on a mission, Winston of course, and Genji and... well, Jesse is here too.”

 

“Well, that's...great? What am I missing?”

 

Jack and Ana exchanged a look, he hated when they did that. It was good to know _something_ was still the same.

 

“Does he...not know about Reaper?” Asked Ana carefully and Jack just shrugged. Gabriel pinched his nose

 

“ _He's_ right here.”

 

Guilt flashed on her face “I'm sorry, of course. Well...people think you're dead, Gabe.”

 

“I know, Jack has told me. But I'm not, so...that's good news? What does Reaper have to do with anything?”

 

Her lips thinned. Gabriel was suddenly hit by the memory of Jack calling _him_ Reaper. “Wait...”

 

“We don't know exactly what happened, but me and Jack found out a while ago that you're going around pretending to be Reaper. Our last encounter was...not friendly. And the team fought a few times against Talon, apparently Reaper is working with them at the moment.”

 

Gabriel covered his eyes with one hand.

 _Talon_? His future self had no fucking standards.

 

“That's unfortunate. I must have hit my head really badly during the explosion. Surely, they can't hold me accountable for my future self’s poor life choices?”

 

Jack tensed up, luckily before he could jump on Jerk!Gabriel's – because there was no way Gabriel was calling his future self _Reaper,_ not even in his head _–_ defense Ana spoke up again.

 

“Of course not, I'm just saying people will be surprised and when we explain about Reaper, possibly a little hostile.”

 

“I'll cope. No offense to 2076, but I want to go home sooner rather than later.” _Because the future sucks._

 

Ana smiled softly and patted him on the arm “You have been missed, my friend.”

 

* * *

 

Waiting just out of the conference room while Ana explained the situation, Gabriel hoped that she was right. He had read so many theories on how he single handedly brought down Overwatch that even _he_ was wondering if there was some truth to it, after all.

 

“Winston will help, he's too naive not to.” Gabriel winced at Jack's attempt at reassuring him

 

“Does it bother you that he took your job?”

 

“Winston is welcome to it, it will consume him and spit him out.” He had put down his rifle, since they were guests, but Jack was still standing to attention. “It's not a job, it's a curse.”

 

Raised voices made their way across the wall, Gabriel could recognize Winston’s deep tone

 

“I am sorry Fareeha, but we did say only senior Overwatch agents.”

 

“Lena is _twentyfive!_ ”

 

“Hey! Don’t drag me into it!”

 

There was a sound of exasperation and the door swooshed open. Gabriel squared his shoulders.

Fareeha looked so much like her mother when he had first met her, it gave Gabe a odd feeling of deja vu.

 

She looked ready to kick him in the balls, since she had just learned he was alive and had been working with the enemy. Gabe was not surprised she did.

 

“Fareeha…” She flinched at her mother’s warning call and schooled her expression blank. Gabriel opened his mouth but couldn't find anything worth saying, she shook her head and passed him bumping her shoulder against his. It hurt a bit, and not because the woman was built like a brick wall.

 

“Come in, please, Gabriel.”

 

The room was filled with familiar faces; Reinhardt looked about ready to cry, Angela did not look a day older that last time he saw her, while Genji seemed to have embraced his Cyborg half because he had clearly had some serious upgrades applied on his armor. There was a young girl who seemed incapable of stopping tapping her foot and Gabriel guessed she must have been Lena, Ana mentioned her before as if Gabriel was supposed to know her.

 

 _‘Agent Oxton Lena, Chronal dissociation’_ Had chirped Athena back to Grand Mesa. 

 

“Boss?”

 

Gabriel’s eyes snapped to Jesse McCree, he couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief.

He was older, but he still had a dumb ass belt buckle and his stupid hat. If anything he seemed to have stepped up in his cowboy impersonation game. Gabriel had been worried. A week ago, well, Gabriel supposed it was eight years and a week ago for the kid, their mission went south and Jesse had lost an arm.

 

Gabriel had stayed with him, tried to make him feel better, but he had been visibly shaken. No only about his injury. Gabriel knew Jesse was starting to question Blackwatch. In the infirmary, high as a kite because of the pain killers, Jesse had yelled at him _“You could have told me the choice was between rot in prison and sellin’ my soul cause I would have picked the fucking prison!”_

 

Gabriel hadn't answered. He didn't know how. He had been the one to break the rules for the greater good for decades now. No one had cared if his tactics were a bit on the brutal side when they were fighting bots, and when they made peace the suits had made a show of putting Jack in charge, but they still gave him Blackwatch.

 

The message had been clear, they still wanted him to do what he did best. He just had to do it quietly.

 

He hated it. He may not have Jack's love for red tape but it had been impossible to falter sometimes. They were Jack's orders though, and if there was something Gabriel could count on, it was that Jack would try absolutely everything, every channel, every solution before sanctioning anything drastic. Jack had hated collateral damage, even in the Crisis. He had always been a _“the end does not justify the means”_ kind of man, and Gabriel, while disagreeing completely, had loved him for it.

 

“I'll be damned, it's true.” Jesse's voice brought him back to the present.

 

The cowboy stood up and went over, standing face-to-face with him. Gabriel could read the surprise in the lines of his face, the hurt, the grief, the anger.

 

“Remember, Jesse, whatever you may feel about Reaper's actions, Gabriel is not responsible for them.”

 

Jesse tipped his hat to Ana, acknowledging her not so subtle order to not punch him in the face and the glint of metal caught Gabriel's attention

 

“Are you over throwing a fit because of your prosthetic?”

 

Jesse laughed like the sound got free without permission, he seemed surprised by his own reaction “I had this thing for so many years, _jefe.”_

 

 _“_ Hey, where I came from, you just got it and could not stop complaining, Shimada is so close to stabbing you with his little ninja weapons.”

 

Genji crossed his arms “They're shuriken, and I didn't.”

 

McCree glared at him “You slapped me!”

 

“You deserved it, _pendejo._ ”

 

Jesse's face turned somber and he averted his eyes like he couldn’t bear to meet Gabriel’s “That's what you said then, too.”

 

Gabriel pulled him in a one armed hug, to wipe off Jesse's miserable expression.

 

“I was right then, too, kid."

 

“Excuse _you_ , this kid is almost forty years old.”

 

“Until you stop dressing like a Clint Eastwood wannabe, you can't ask me to take you seriously.”

 

“I'll have you know that these days, you dress more ridiculously than me.”

 

“I'm afraid to ask.”

 

“A-hem.” Winston cleared his throat. “We should get to business, maybe we could have some privacy?” Winston spoke directly to Jack “It's nothing personal, but we don't know anything about you except that you’re internationally wanted.”

 

“I'm not leaving.” He growled. Gabriel scowled, how did they not recognize Jack was mystery to him, then again not everyone had spent years studying his body movements.

 _Pining_ , a voice that sounded suspiciously like Ana Amari corrected him.

 

“Soldier 76 has a vested interest in fighting Talon, he's trustworthy, I've worked with him in the past.” Gabriel looked at Ana and frowned at the not so small omission of Jack's identity, but went with it.

 

“Let's get to the time travel explanations.” He urged.

 

Winston pushed his glasses up his nose

 

“It's quite fascinating. But it's clear it's not as much as time traveling, as it is a sort of crossing through alternate realities.”

The room was silent, even Angela who had probably the highest IQ in the room scratched her earlobe without a flicker of understanding on her face.

The hyperactive girl raised a hand

 

“Yes, Lena?”

 

“Umh, I think I speak for everyone when I say: _wut_?”

 

Winston sighed “If Talon really had time traveled and changed history we would have never noticed because it would be simply what happened to us, the fact that Gabriel is here suggests something different. Obviously...”

 

In her corner seat Lena snorted and mouthed “ _Obviously_ ”, the gorilla ignored her “Obviously _,_ Reaper switched placed with Gabriel and in doing so he has created an alternate reality in which time is flowing normally but Gabriel is not there. Instead, Reaper is.”

 

“Is that bad? Creating alternate realities?” Reinhardt asked frowning

 

“It could be argued that a new reality is created every time we do something, it is a popular concept of infinite worlds, all parallels but different. Or, if we see time from a different perspective then…”

  
“Yes or no, Winston.” The german man pressed him, Winston visibly pouted.

 

“No, Lieutenant Wilhelm, no negative effects will be felt here.”

 

A horrible thought occurred to Gabe and his face fell “You mean..I'm missing?”. Oh god, Jack must be _freaking out._

 

“Umh, yes. As I said Reaper would have appeared in the same exact spot you left. Really, Talon should have known that any effort of time traveling to change the past is quite futile, since if we ever will be able to travel in the past we technically already did, and the time traveler's actions are already accounted for in the present.”

 

The table exploded with chatter, Lena and Genji started making time traveling movies references which got completely lost on Winston.

 

Gabriel sighed “I just want to go home.” Before Jerk!Gabriel did anything stupid to _his_ reality.

 

Winston nodded “We will need information on what they did, I can't just guess how they bend the laws of physics. If I had access to their research I could replicate it.”

 

“We can infiltrate a Talon base.” McCree said “Blackwatch playbook, in and out before anyone even notice we're there.”

Jesse winked at him and Gabriel smiled.

 

“Do we have possible locations for their labs?”

 

“No, but...”

 

“Actually...” Angela interrupted Ana, she looked seriously uncomfortable, her eyes wouldn't meet anyone in the room. “I know where they are.” She hanged her head and whispered “I'm so sorry.”

 

“Angela...what did you do?” Ana's tone of maternal disappointment would have been funny if the situation wasn't have been deadly serious.

 

Angela grabbed the cord of her stethoscope, her white teeth chewing her bottom lip.

 

“As you all know my specialization is nanotechnology. When Gabriel killed Reaper I...I asked him to bring him in. For an autopsy. The chance to study was...it was unique. I...” She sniffed and lifted her chin “And I was right, I made a considerable jump in my research, that's how I improved so much the properties of my Caduceus staff. But I also...” She turned very pale and her hands trembled “After the explosion, when I had to turn all my research to the authorities I saw the Reaper technology samples were missing. I wouldn't have use them, I wouldn't have!”

 

Winston patted a big hand on Angela's small back very gently. “We know Angela, we know.”

 

“I thought the samples were safe in my lab, if I had known...Anyway, the Dean of Oasis University called me a few months later.” Her lips twisted “He didn't say it out right, but after studying their recent articles and checking who's working there...I think at least some of the faculties functions as Talon's science division. They wanted me to work with them, I refused and some not very subtle threats were made.” Angela slumped back in her seat “It's why I disappeared in Jordan and Lebanon these past years, I was very spooked by the whole thing. I am so sorry Gabriel, I know your counterpart blames Overwatch for his situation, and he's right. If it weren't for me the Reaper technology would have never fallen into Talon's hands.”

 

Everyone looked expectantly at him, Gabriel felt his temper flare up. “Isn't it a bit too easy to find forgiveness with me? I am not the one you should give your apologies to. Not about this.” He tugged his hands inside the pockets of his hoodie “It's seems to me that however fucked up this tech is the other option was death so, no, I'm not particularly angry about that. Telling everyone I blew up the headquarters? _That_ I'm pissed about! What's wrong with all of you?”

 

The silence was deafening, the looks they exchanged between themselves quite telling.

Gabriel recoiled, he had presumed his innocence. Presumed that his friends _knew_ he was innocent, despite what they were telling the press. He wanted to turn to Jack, he wanted to seek assurances that he, at least, believed in him, but the soldier would shoot him in the kneecap if he blew 76’s cover.

 

“It seemed like the most plausible scenario, my friend.” Reinhardt was trying unsuccessfully to make himself smaller. “You isolated yourself, every time you talked to Jack the fight got uglier. After Ana's death...” He choked up, Gabriel frowned.

 

“Ana's _what_ ?” How had he missed that?After seeing she wasn’t involved in the explosion he had just assumed Ana was alright, no routine mission could take _Ana_ down.

 

He looked at her. She closed her eyes and sighed. “I went M.I.A in 2069. From what I hear...” Ana gave the briefest of looks toward Jack who stood masked and silent in the far end of the room “You blamed Jack. Jack accepted that responsibility, even if it wasn't his to bear. I disappeared voluntarily.”

 

Oh God, Gabriel could see himself do that. Being so mad with grief he yelled at Jack he should have taken care of his troops better, that _he_ would have done a better job. He prayed he didn't, he knew he did.

 

“Why the fuck would you do that?”

 

“It was a difficult time, Gabriel. We all coped at the best of our abilities.” Angela tone was meant to be soothing, he could tell, but he just felt patronized.

 

“We  _still_ don't know if you're innocent, if we want to be at all honest, luv.” Lena chirped, he shot her his best glare, she did not seem overly impressed with him “I mean no disrespect, Commander, but you were being such a bloody wanker even Jesse left.”

 

Jesse stiffened “Thanks, Lena.”

 

“Oi, don't look at me like that! I'm just saying, folks in Blackwatch decide they want to do their own thing and next thing we know the HQ blows up?”

 

“Post hoc, ergo propter hoc.”

 

All eyes turned on 76. Gabriel wondered if they recognized Jack's voice, it was more gruff, but not that _much_ different from before. To be fair, it had been six years and almost everyone in the room was convinced Jack died.

 

“After this, therefore, because of this.”

 

“Yeah, that's what I'm saying!”

 

“Slow down.” Something flashed behind Lena’s eyes, Soldier 76 continued “It's means that just because something comes before, it doesn't mean it's the cause of what follows.”

 

She hummed.

 

Gabriel didn't feel very encouraged by the fact that the only one who thought he didn't obliterate the headquarters was the one who was there. Not that he could call Jack as a witness, of course.

 

“Fantastic.” He exhaled very slowly and resisted the urge to massage his temple. “I imagine Athena will let me know where and when to show up for the mission, you...still have her right?”

 

_“I am present and functional, Mr.Reyes.”_

 

“Oh good, now I have been demoted by the AI, great.”

 

_“It’s nothing personal, Mr. Reyes, since Overwatch disbanded everyone is back to civilian designation. Even the Stri–”_

 

“Mr. Reyes is good, Athena, thanks!” Gabriel said loudly, very very loudly.

 

After getting out of the room as quickly as he possibly could without storming out, he holed up in the cafeteria, brewed himself the sweetest, most caloric coffee he could manage and let himself fall on the couch of the recreation room. It was the same couch, they hadn't changed the couch in eight years. Gabriel felt like breaking into hysteric giggles.

 

“ _Jefe!”_ Gabriel turned his head to glance above his shoulder. Jesse had his arm raised like he had been thinking of patting his shoulder and then decided against it.

McCree looked miserable and ashamed, a bit more like the kid Gabriel picked from the Deadlock gang and less like the seasoned agent he grew up to be.

 

“You know better than to talk to me while I'm drinking my frappuccino, Jesse.”

 

“I do.” The cowboy croaked “But last time we fought you died on me “ He took his hat off and twisted the brim of it in his hands “I don't care for a repeat.”

 

Gabriel's teeth protested the assault of sugar, he took another sip “Sit down.” The couch dipped under the cowboy's weight, Jesse put his hat back on.

 

"Sometimes I think I should have stayed."

 

"Was it that bad?" Gabriel said "it", but he meant "me" and from the look Jesse gave him, he knew that.

 

"You wanted to bring Overwatch down and you were so sure it was the right thing to do you didn't care who was helping you do it. Let me tell ya, latest Blackwatch recruits? Not good people." Jesse put his feet up on the table in front of them, his fingers laced together on his chest while he slumped back "I kept thinking about what you said to me when you recruited me"

 

Gabriel remembered, he saw a lost young man with a great potential, stuck at a crossroads. He was scared and alone, and he could have so very easily made a dumb decision and ruined his life forever.

 

_You're a loyal kid, Jesse McCree, and you're wasting it on a gang because they are the first people to make you feel like you belong, but you shouldn't have to decide between family and being a good man. What kind of family does that?_

 

 _"_ I couldn't follow you and I couldn't sell you out, so I bailed." Jesse shook his head "I wondered if I marched to the Strike Commander and told him about your plans, that maybe I could have saved you. Saved you both."

 

Gabe clutched his cup "So you do think I did it."

 

"Tearin' Overwatch apart? Yes. The explosion? Ain't so sure about that one."

 

"I'm not sure either." Gabriel confessed, it was just a whisper but Jesse looked up to him from under his hat "I would have said it was impossible for me to break things off with Jack, and yet..."

 

"You know, you are handling that news mighty well." Jesse drawled. “Morrison’s...”

 

Gabriel hated the idea of lying to Jesse, but it wasn’t his secret to tell. Plus, Soldier 76 scared him a little. “You heard Winston, not my reality. Nothing is going to happen to _my_ Jack. We won’t break up and he won’t die, end of story.”

 

“Your Jesse McCree will appreciate that, I felt rotten about you dumping Jack over Vladivostok, of all things.”

 

Gabriel flinched at the mention of that rotten operation “What?”

 

McCree shrugged “I don’t know how many times I must have told ya, it’s crazy to think the Strike Commander would go in front of the press and defend the likes of us.”

 

Gabriel’s heart skipped a beat. When he left, Jack was getting ready to fly to Gibraltar, after that there was a press conference scheduled, to discuss the result of the Slipstream experiment.

 

“Someone asked about the Vladivostok op?” Jesse’s eyes widened and he shoot up to sit straight.

 

“Shit. You didn’t know.” The cowboy looked around, like he was considering his chances to flee the room without Gabe catching him.

 

Gabriel slammed his cup on the table “Jesse McCree, answer the fucking question.”

 

“They did and Morrison was clearly tired and under pressure and handled it less gracefully than he could have.”

  
“Meaning?” He growled.

  
“I don’t remember it word for word!.”

 

_“Mr.Reyes, do you wish me to play for you the recording of the statement in question?”_

 

“ _Athena,_ unless your memory has been damaged somehow in these years, you know how I feel about eavesdropping. We talked about it. A lot.”

 

 _“I am sorry, Mr. Reyes.”_ She didn’t sound very apologetic, Gabriel could swear the AI had developed humor somehow _“You_ don’t _want to hear the recording in question, then?”_ Gabriel. Could. _Swear._

 

“Boss, I don’t know if it’s a good–”  

  
“I would, Athena, thank you.”

 

The holo feed on the table turned itself on and projected in the air the flickering image of Jack. _His_ Jack. The quality wasn’t very good, no one had come around for maintenance lately, that was pretty clear, but good enough for Gabriel to see the lines on his lover’s face, the bags under his eyes.

 

_“Strike Commander, a week ago two scientists lost their lives in a fire that destroyed the Chekov Inc. Lab in Vladivostok, Mr. Arkady Chekov said that he wouldn’t be surprised if the arson was the result of Overwatch deciding to make their big donor and his rival General Volskaya, a favor.”_

 

_“I heard about Mr.Chekov’s speculation and while I extend him and the victims' families my condolences about what happened, I can assure you it’s completely false. I think it’s frankly insulting that you could insinuate that my agents are capable of such an heinous and cowardly act against innocent civilians. And that you would do so when I am announcing that we just lost one of our own. A bright young girl who dreamed of a better future. That’s what Overwatch is about, and why people give their lives for it, it sickens me that people would feel so comfortable in vilifying our sacrifices.”_

 

Gabriel had one or two grenades blowing up into his face, and this felt very similar.

 

_What of my sacrifices?_

_I was following_ your _orders, you insufferable dickhead._

_Is this what you would think of me? A stain on Overwatch’s sparkling reputation?_

_Can someone really be that blind?_

 

For the first time, Gabriel understood Reaper. He understood feeling so betrayed, so angry, that bringing down the organization he gave his whole life to sounded like a pretty solid plan. He understood what doubting _Jack_ felt like, and that was the worst thing of all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize to everyone who expected messy and cool time paradoxes, I couldn't figure out how to make that work and still have a happy ending AND focus on Reaper and S76 too.  
> Either whatever I did changed them completely, or they were doomed to repeat their mistakes. So I went the reboot route, sorry.
> 
> Uprising jossed me a bit, but I'll try to insert somethings from the comic in the next chapter anyway.
> 
>  
> 
> Next up, Strike Commander POV!


	4. Chapter 4

Jack stared at screen glowering, his fingers tapped aggressively the keyboard

 

_ << It’s not fine, Gabe! I can’t go on a mission with a volatile mercenary if you are still his prisoner. Just get out of there, and call backup.>> _

 

**_< <You’re being unreasonable, Jack.>>_ **

 

_ << Unrea– are you for fucking real? If you’re saying you have this under control and then I find out they beat the shit out of you and you are saying you’re fine but you’re not, so help me Gabe I’m gonna kick your ass.>> _

 

**_< <I promise I am free to move and everything, I’ll find out a way out of here long before you get to arrest Bill’s stupid face. But you gotta trust me, okay?>>_ **

 

_ <<...yes. Of course. I’m sorry. Of course you’ll be okay.>> _

 

**_< <Don’t sound too confident.>>_ **

 

_ <<It’s not that I don’t trust you Gabe, it’s just that...I’m freaked out, okay? Moles inside overwatch?Moles inside the UN? Reaper knew things that...everything is wrong. Promise me you’ll be safe.>> _

 

**_< <As much as humanly possible, querido.>>_ **

 

_ <<I love you.>> _

 

Jack sighed, when no reply came he frowned. He checked the connection but it seemed fine.

 

_ <<Gabe?>> _

 

**_< <Sorry. Nosy guard. Love you too. 0076 Out.>>_ **

 

Jack went back into the safe house. Reaper was still at the computer terminal he left him to, “contacting an acquaintance” he had said.

  
“Uh...is it...is it supposed to _do_ that?” Jack squinted slightly horrified to the lines Reaper’s body, they looked blurred and fuming.

 

“Yes. If I’m hungry.”

 

“Are you?”

 

Reaper chuckled darkly “Don’t worry Morrison, I’m not going to let the evil nanobots snack on you.”  

  
“How frequently do you need to...eat?” The aura of humor seemed to disappear from the mercenary, Reaper went quiet and Jack waited.

 

“Depends how human I want to look under this.” The tips of his clawed gauntlet tipped the white metal of the mask. “How human I want to _feel._ ” The owl visage turned to look at him “It has not been exactly a priority these days, feeling human.” Jack felt like he was missing a reference of some sort, nevertheless he could see an opportunity when presented with one

  
“Having a real name helps feeling human.” He said remembering the cold clipped voices of the doctor calling him _“Patient 0089”._ “I would know.” No matter how many times Jack did it, it always felt a bit dirty when he tried to manipulate information out of people.

  
The man stopped what he was doing, stroked his chin, tilting his head in eerie resemblance of the bird his mask seemed to be based on. When he spoke, the smirk his voice could almost be heard.

“That was a very good try, Strike Commander. But I know how to play this game better than you, trust me.”

 

Jack clenched his teeth, time for a more direct approach, apparently.

 

“I want to call my second, Captain Amari.” He crossed his arms.

 

Reaper sighed audibly “Did I not just finished telling you that your stupid organization is riddled with spies? It really looked like you understood.”

 

Jack bristled “I did. We can trust her. We’ll need the help.”

  
“You mean _you_ can trust her. _You_ will need her help.”

 

“At some point you will have to trust me.” Reaper seemed to be engrossed once again in his work,not listening to his protests at all “I have to warn Overwatch not to send people after me and Gabriel,at least, right? Or would you prefer to have my agents turning every rock in Switzerland try to find their commanders?”

  
“You know, I may trust you better if you weren’t _still_ trying to fish for information. He’s not in Switzerland, he’s not anywhere your people will find him, they are welcome to try.”

 

Jack pressed his lips together in a blatantly fake smile “Can you blame me?You’re the one who recruited me after kidnapping me, you know everything about me _apparently_ and I don’t even know your name.”

 

Reaper seemed to look up, Jack wondered if he was rolling his eyes “Fine. You won’t have a name or a face, but you can call Overwatch and call them off our backs.”

Jack walked to Reaper and the mercenary seemed to roll away with his chair from his position, in a very purposeful and resentful way.

It took, oddly, a couple of calls for Ana to finally answer his call. Except on the screen it wasn’t Ana, but Reinhardt’s face to appear.

  
“Uh…” Jack said intelligently

 

“MY FRIEND” The large German man was shirtless, Jack double checked the number he called

 

“Reinhardt, hey, this is–”

 

“Is that Jack? He and Gabe better be half dead in a ditch or I am going to slap them so hard they…”   
  
Jack’s back straighten up and he cleared his voice, Ana pushed Reinhardt to the side and entered the view of the camera

 

“Ana, what...what’s going on there?”

 

“Here? What’s going on HERE? None of your business, that’s what. I believe it’s more important what’s going on _there._ Come on Jack, you know I hate when you leave me in command.”

“It is my business if I have 200 dollars on you and Reinhardt eloping, I make double if it’s a summer wedding, just saying.”

 

“I don't know how you tricked the public into thinking you're a good person, Jack.”

 

“It’s a mystery for us all.” Jack sighed, he resisted the urge to look at Reaper. The man seemed to know a whole lot of stuff about them but there was no way Talon could know in detail about the old Strike Team covert distress codes. “Look, me and Gabe are on a mission. We’re not dead in a ditch, don’t worry about a thing.” Reinhardt’s and Ana’s expressions, to their credit, didn’t change at all.

 

_“If the american blonde boy is going to say one more time any variant that ‘it’s fine’ or ‘don’t worry’ I’m going to dart him.”_

_“I don’t...do I say those kinda of stuff a lot?”_

_“YES, MY FRIEND, YES.”_

_“Well, it's unanimous, Jackie you can’t say any variant of pep talk on communication channels unless it’s a distress signal.”_   
_“What?! You’re punishing me for being an optimist?”_ _  
_ “It’s just so exhausting, tall guy.”

_“Oh come on, Torb, not you too, I thought we we’re friends!”_

 

“Can I talk to Gabriel?” In a wonderful display of acting skill her tone remained lighthearted.

“He’s just out smoking one of his horrible european cigarettes, I’m worried he’s picking up the habit again.”

 

_We were separated, he’s probably still in Europe, prioritize him._

 

She nodded. “Fine, I’ll hold the fort while you boys are away.”

  
Jack relaxed, with Ana on the case, he felt better about Gabriel’s situation.

  
“If you’re done chatting with Amari…”

 

Jack eyed Reaper while the man unceremoniously pushed him to the side and resumed his work.

With the mask there was no way for Jack to read him properly and he wondered if he could work up to a degree of trust that would lead to the mercenary taking off the sinister visage. It seemed unlikely, despite the alliance they brokered, Reaper hadn’t been very friendly.Just as well, Jack told himself, he supposed a revenge seeking trip wasn't the best environment to make _friends._

 

Still, the man intrigued him. From what he remembered from his file, Reaper was a ruthless mercenary with no allegiance except to himself. It made him wonder what could have Talon, certainly a good employer of ruthless mercenaries, done to get on his bad side.

 

“What are you doing?”

 

“Paying a twenty-two year old hacker for information about Petras, he got away from me once and he's not doing it again.” The bone white mask turned towards him “I know you plan to interrogate him and arrest him, but I am killing the son of a bitch.” On the screen a pink stylized skull flashed and Reaper stood up “We can go now, he's at the Alderworth, here in Geneva.”

 

Jack curled his lips, he would be lying if he said that the temptation of just letting Reaper do his thing wasn't there, still he knew he would have to save Bill Petras’ worthless skin. Arguing about it now, though, would do him no good. In fact, he would probably end up alienating his only ally, so Jack was careful not to bring it up.

Reaper briefed him, his information was concise and thorough, however it annoyed Jack that a barely legal kid could obtain the location and security detail of the UN under-secretary while managing to stay under Overwatch radar. It was... _disquieting,_ to say the least.                

Jack wondered for how many days would Gabe threaten to withhold sex if he happened to give him another pet project.

 

Well, he had been right about Jesse, hadn't he? The boy was a good agent and Gabriel had a look on his face every-time they were together that Jack was surprised he didn't bring up the subject of having kids again. He was nevertheless infinitely grateful that he didn't, because it didn't matter how much Jack would have liked to say yes, he still would have to be the one to play the bad guy and remind Gabe that if they couldn’t manage to find the time to get properly married, there was a solid chance that they would not have the time to raise a kid.

 

“Could you pay attention?” Reaper's voice cut through his glumness, his spine shot straight and he tried not to blush too hard. For how long had Reaper been talking while Jack stood there, miserable, missing Gabriel?

 

God, he'd make such a terrible vigilante.

 

“Sorry, I...”

 

“Am I bothering you?”

 

Jack's eyes narrowed and his mouth ran ahead of him “Are you going to be a dick for much longer?” He asked pleasantly.  “Because you kidnapped my fiance and it's taking me a lot of energy not to shoot you in the foot for that. And yet...” He made a sweeping theatrical gesture with his hand “Here I manage. The least you could do is try not to test me.”

 

 _Fuck._ He was starting to apologize for his outburst to the dangerous mercenary who had his loved one as a hostage when something odd happened.

 

Jack couldn't be _sure,_ because he wasn't good at reading full leather clad masked terrorists, but he thought the tremor in Reaper's shoulder was from a silent laughter. Maybe.

 

“Fine.” Reaper's said after a while.

 

After that, the man’s attitude very much improved, Jack wouldn't give him any awards for his people skills but at least they started working well together.

They were in an alley just out of Petras' security perimeter, checking the gear and going over the plan, when Reaper swayed on his feet

 

“What was that?”

 

“Nothing.” Reaper leaned to the wall making a very bad impression of someone who's not about to faint “Do you remember where the cameras are?”

 

Jack would have been offended by the insinuation if it wasn’t such a blatant and pathetic attempt to deflect the conversation. Also he had a bad record at stealth, but Reaper didn’t know _that._ His lips thinned with the effort of trying to avoid chuckling “Yes, I do remember where the cameras are.”

 

Reaper got away from the wall and looked like he wanted to walk away, instead he started to fall to his knees. Jack caught him by the forearms and steadied him before he hit the ground.

 

“I just haven't fed in a while, stop fussing, Morrison.”

 

Jack was about to point out that was a weird way to describe hunger when the memory of Angela explaining the husked corpses slot back into place. _Yikes_.

 

“Morrison? Careful there, if you leave off the Strike-Commander I may wonder if you’re really talking to me.”

 

“I'll be fine once we start.” Reaper continued, he was trying to slip out of Jack's grip, but he clearly didn't have the strength for it. Jack's eyebrows knitted together in a frown.

 

“We said no lethal force until Petras.” Jack had argued until he was blue in the face that he wasn't going around shooting guards for doing their jobs just because their boss was dirty. Reaper had tried to convince him they probably were just as compromised but Jack had not budged until the mercenary had thrown out a hand in the air and promised not to fatally injure anybody, just to shut him up.

 

“Well tough luck, Jackie, unless you’re offering, it's not like I have choice.”

 

The nickname blindsided Jack, made him squeeze a little too hard, judging by Reaper's muffled grunt. There had been no one in his life that called him Jackie, except for Gabe, he supposed it made sense since Jack was already a nickname. The spot inside him that was missing Gabriel like crazy felt like a bruise that had just been poked several times.

 

_Focus, Jack. Mission now, pining later._

 

“Don’t call me that.” He snapped, the idea of a bunch of Talon goons listening in to his and Gabe’s conversation made his temper flare up, he took a deep breath and talked himself down. He wouldn’t walk into Reapers obvious trap of a provocation.

 

“Could I survive that?”

 

Reaper's masked turned up “What?”

 

Jack took advantage of the moment of no resistance and propped Reaper's arm on his shoulder, carrying the  not unsubstantial weight of the man.

“I'm one of those super soldier, quite sturdy.” He explained “Would we be both in fighting shape if you fed from me?”

Reaper squirmed away, he took two step back like _Jack_ was the scary guy in a bone mask

 

“We can't risk it.”

 

Jack crossed his arms on his chest “You said it yourself, it's not like we have much of a choice.”

He was not stopping now, he _had_ to confront Petras. The reports he dismissed over the years about Blackwatch, Gabe's tired, tight, face after a mission, Overwatch’s worse critics’ promises that it was only a matter of time until the organization would abuse its power, it all haunted him. If he had to let a mercenary snack on his...energy? To fix it? He would, happily.

 

“You can't go on with the mission, that's clear.” Jack debated “So you either stay here and I'll do it alone or we can test just how good S.E.P enhancements are.”

 

Reaper made a frustrated groan, Jack smirked, it was the sweet sweet sound of someone who had just lost an argument and didn't like it.

 

He cradled Jack's face in his hands and tilted his own like he was going in for a kiss. Jack was about to step back when he felt it. It was the oddest sensation, at first his throat closed up and Jack's lips parted, gasping for air, then a huge pressure threatened to crush him, like he was riding in a high speed vehicle. There was _something_ coming out of Jack's mouth, that was slithering into the holes of Reaper's mask, a red and golden stricken flux of...energy? His life force? His _soul?_ Jack had never been the religious type, but the word popped into his head anyway.

 

Then, suddenly, the pressure was gone, the strange lights went out and Jack felt his legs give away.

Reaper scooped him up into his arms like a damsel in distress. Not quite bridal style though and if Jack's head didn't feel like he was having history worst hangover, he would thank him for saving his pride.

 

“Morrison?Morrison!” Jack blinked trying to clear his head, his tongue felt heavy in his mouth. “ _J–_ ”

 

“Yes.” His poor head was spinning, it took him a while to feel like he wasn’t about to throw up. Jack cleared his throat and found his footing, Reaper seemed relieved and reluctant to let him go

 

“I didn't know you cared.” He joked, the man was certainly the planet’s weirdest kidnapper.

 

Reaper took a step back, he seemed both angry and relieved at the same time. “That was a foolish thing to do.”

 

“So perfectly in character” Jack argued in a pretty decent imitation of Gabriel’s smooth L.A drawl. It wasn’t easy, because his voice was naturally deeper but Jack had had plenty of time to exercise his Gabriel Reyes’ impression, much to the original Strike Team’s delight. He liked to think it was pretty good.

 

Reaper shook his head and snorted.

 

“What?”

 

“Nothing, you just... remind me of someone.”

 

Ah there it was, Jack guessed, the reason for the awkward familiarity Reaper seemed to fall in with him without noticing.

Reaper sounded regretful, nostalgic.

 

“What happened to them?”

 

Reaper went very still and Jack regretted poking at a very obvious open wound“Talon happened.” He snapped “...I happened.” He added softly after a minute. Jack felt for him, the sorrow in the mercenary's voice was genuine. If Reaper had come to them, if only he had trusted Overwatch...he felt they could have been amazing allies, maybe even friends. Jack felt something of a connection there. As it was, he could not get over the fact that the man had handed Gabriel over Talon, no matter how Gabriel and Reaper both seemed to think the situation was under control.

 

Reaper dematerialized in a proverbial puff of smoke and reappeared on the rooftop, huge twin shotguns in hand. Which was ridiculous when Gabriel did it, and it was ridiculous now, it just was the most impractical choice of weapon ever.

He wondered if Reaper too had gone through some kind of program, much like S.E.P, it would explain how they fell into working together easily and how he was able to carry the shotguns in the first place. Jack remembered very well Gabe hadn’t been able to do that until a good six months into the Soldier Enhancement Program.

Then again, the guns disappeared into smoke at the man’s command so maybe they did not exactly followed the same law of physics Jack was used to.

His earpiece crackled to life, the buzz of static gave away to Reaper's voice

 

“Third floor.” Reaper voice turned professional and so did Jack, he pulled the rifle to his chest and followed the side of the building. Above him, the man jumped off the roof, vaporizing; the black mist swirled mid air and sneaked into the crack between the window and the windowsill.

Jack used the momentum of his run to jump on the wall of the Alderworth, then spun and forced his taut muscles to give him the strength to double his jump. The window opened just in time for Jack to roll into it, Reaper was standing aside, hand to the glass

 

“Show off.”

 

“Eh, all that stuff they pumped into me has to be good for something.”

 

“Patrol incoming.” They both gave their back to the wall, hiding behind the corner of the hallway until the two bodyguards passed them, chatting between them. They got pistol whipped, well rifle and shotgun whipped, and crumpled to the floor in an almost perfectly synchronized movement.

 

Jack followed Reaper up the stairs, up until the penthouse, because of course the pretentious prick was in the penthouse suite. They had to neutralize half a dozen guards, but Jack was satisfied to see that Reaper followed Jack's lead and didn't harm the security people more than strictly necessary.

 

Jack was about to kick Petra's door down when Reaper put a hand on his chest

 

“Last warning, Morrison. _Please..._ ” Reaper's steel talons scratched the kevlar of his body armor “Do not get in my way”

 

“Reaper, don't do this. This is the kind of thing you just can't go back from.” Jack hissed in a whisper.

 

“It's too late for me, it's been too late for a while now.” Reaper kicked the door in before Jack could find the right words to answer that.

 

William Petras didn't seem particularly bothered by the two six foot men entering into his room with guns blazing, he stayed on the chair without so much as batting an eye. He looked up at them and raised his glass of bronze tinted liquor towards them like a salute

 

“Please, gentlemen, sit down.”

 

“You don't want to fuck around with me, Petras” Jack warned in a low voice, his scope still centered on the guy's forehead.

 

“I am aware, Strike Commander. I'm here to give you my full cooperation.” Petras pointed at Reaper with the index finger he wasn't wrapping around the glass “Who's your friend there?”

 

“Don't play the fool, Bill, you know very well who Reaper is.”

The politician downed his whiskey and chuckled “I do, don't get me wrong. But  _she_ is in south America right now, a very precious asset, that woman.”

Jack turned to Reaper in confusion, the mercenary's guns disappeared and he lunged to grasp Petras' throat

 

“I'm the Ghost of the Christmas Yet to Come, Director, and I’m here to erase you from History.”

 

Petras’ chuckle was rattled “Project Saturn! My, my...And I thought the lab coats were crazy.”

 

“Reaper!” Jack lowered his rifle to grasp Reaper’s shoulder and force him to back down “I have questions for him!”The man growled and unclenched his claws, leaving behind four red stripes.

 

Petras gasped and gingerly caressed his neck “I'm sure you do, Jack.” He rasped “I'm not a stupid man, I will answer whatever question you have for me in exchange for your protection.”

 

“Jack...” Reaper’s voice was a low and dangerous warning.

“Oh it’s _Jack_ now, isn’t it?” He glared at Reaper and sat across the Petras, the rifle propped against the side of the luxurious armchair “I get to interrogate him, I will fight with you for his life later.”

 

Reaper kicked the rug in frustration “Fine, play good cop, see if I care. I'm still killing him.”

 

“We'll see about that. I'm sure I can convince the good Strike commander of my usefulness, yes?”

 

“How long have you been issuing Blackwatch Ops in my place?” He cut to the chase, he wasn’t in the mood for fucking around and it was better than William Petras got that message.

 

“Goodness gracious, Jack, years!” Petras chirped with mirth, for a man who depended on Jack to stay alive, Jack thought, he was really good at getting on his nerves. “Talon recruited me five years back, and I'm a man who can see an opportunity when it presents itself. They made a brilliant pitch; we would have built a paper trail of questionable missions, leak them until the trust in Overwatch shattered. The public would have demanded a new Director, a civilian, and that would have been me. Quite brilliant, these Talon people, I do not approve of some of their methods, mind you, but as they say, you can't make an omelette without breaking a few eggs, yes?”

 

Jack felt the blood roaring in his ears, he took a deep breath and counted to ten, then backwards to one.

 

“I must tell you Jack, honestly, I absolutely protested their plans for Gabriel Reyes, I know the two of you are friends, and he's an American hero. I was very relieved to know he got out of Vladivostok alive.”

 

Jack blinked, there was a sudden falling sensation in his gut “Plans?What...plans?”

 

“He was beginning to poke around too much, so the higher ups decided he had to be dealt with. Not my decision, Jack, really, you know how it is.”

 

“That's _Sir_ to you, or Strike Commander _.”_ Jack snapped. Petras' fake smiled faltered, he seemed to notice only now how much his words were bothering him. He thought Jack would understand. He thought Jack was a politician like him, albeit a more idealistic or honest one, but ultimately one that would understand the calculus of opportunity.

It made him feel nauseous.

 

“I tried to argue on Mr. Reyes' behalf, sir...” Petras added hastily, changing his tune. Jack strongly doubted it, Gabriel was very good at pissing off the U.N, there certainly was no love lost between him and William Petras. “But _they_ decided it would be for the best if he were to be killed in action.”

 

How many times had Jack sent Gabe into a mission without being sure of seeing him again? Asking himself if this was the time he ordered his fiancé to his death. It was his worst nightmare and it had already happened without him even noticing. “But it's my understanding that an agent of his saved his life?A McCall or something.”

 

Jack had come back to HQ ready to bite Gabriel's head off for standing him up, then they told him he was in the critical care wing and he had thought his heart would stop. Afterwards he felt terribly guilty for the wave of debilitating relief that had rushed through him seeing it wasn't Gabe. He asked Angela updates so often, that Doctor Ziegler, a woman who was renowned for her never-ending patience had put her face between her hands and hair and just looked at him like she was about to scream. Jack had backed off after that.

 

“McCree.” Reaper intervened, pulling Jack back to the present, the mercenary was pacing back and forth, slowly and angry “His name is Jesse McCree, you worthless worm.” His voice seemed to curl protectively around Jesse’s name, like a snake, in a very familiar way.

 

Jack thoughts were suddenly torn between ‘ _Impossible’_ and ‘ _Fuck.’_

 

“What’s Project Saturn?” He asked. He must have. His mouth had moved and words had came out of it but Jack felt so detached from his body he wasn’t one hundred percent sure.

 

“What does that matter now?” Reaper snarled

 

“Just theory for now, research about time travel.” Petras explained calmly

  
“Time travel?Sounds like something worth _mentioning_.” Reaper didn’t falter under his accusing stare.

  
“You didn’t need to know about it.”

 

For a moment Jack was scared he would burst into manic giggles. That would have been bad.

‘You don’t need to know about it.’ The title of Gabriel Reyes’ fucking autobiography.

 

“I can help you, Strike commander. You are an honorable man, everyone knows that. It's why Talon never tried to turn you. Promise me amnesty, and I will give you everything I have: hideouts, names, bank accounts.”

Jack thought it was very rude of Petras to try and interrupt is quiet meltdown, even more rude was Reaper who growled and charged at him. Jack's stern, sharp order boomed in the room

 

“ _Stand down_ , _76_!”

 

The man staggered to an halt, in part, Jack guessed, because he didn't expect Jack to figure out who he was, in part...well, Jack had never used his commander voice on Gabe before.

 

He couldn't think about that now, he had to concentrate. Jack shoved Reaper related thoughts out of him mind and stared at Petras for a long minute, a man who could have been very well responsible for the death of his goddamn soulmate.

Jack believed in the law. It wasn't his place to be the judge and jury of William Petras.

 

“You have my word.”

 

Petras patted his knees “Excellent!” He exclaimed, he reached to his pocket and tossed a flash drive to Jack “I knew you were a reasonable man, Strike Commander Morrison.”

 

“It's all here?” He asked holding up the drive between his fingers.

 

“Everything you need, Jack.” The man raised his hand to shake it. Jack nodded and stood up, Petras hand was still hanging in the air when the pulse bullets from Jack's sidearm pierced him five times in the chest.

Jack _had_ always believed in the law, and he _had_ always been an honorable man. That is, until someone had to go and threaten Gabriel's life.

 

* * *

 

Reaper watched the blood blossom and spread like a oil stain on Petras' fancy white shirt, then the man fell to the floor with a hollow thud _,_ an expression of confusion on his face.

He looked at Jack like _he_ was the ghost. Tricking a man and then shooting him in cold blood? That was... _not something you can go back from_ , wasn't that how Jack had phrased it? Reaper would know, but _Jack_ ... Jack was not that man, hell, not even _Soldier 76_ was that man.

 

_Was he?_

 

“Jack...”

 

Jack raised a hand. “You should go.” He fished the comm out of his pocket “I'm calling the police, I'll make up a story.”

He gave him the side arm “Destroy this. Your hacker took care of the holo feeds, right?”

 

“Yes, but...”

 

“ _Gabe_.”

 

Reaper shuddered, the gun in hands disintegrated, devoured by his nanites. Jack’s expression was grim and clouded, his eyes kept staring at the body on the floor.

 

“I can't...can't talk to you right now.”

 

Reaper nodded, frankly, he wasn't sure he could talk to Jack either.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1.I've made some changes to the previous chapters, it's nothing ground breaking but I did change some scenes after I got some really INCREDIBLE feedback from W4nderingstar whom I can't thank enough not in a billion years (go read all her fics, they are amazing).  
> 2\. I AM SO SORRY. I have a long list of excuses but in the end it's just that I am really inexperienced and I can't seem to keep up my confidence in my writing up for enought time to finish a chapter.  
> 3\. I want to tell you guys "I'm definetly going to finish this!" but the truth is I don't know. I WANT to, I really really want to, but something bad happened and I'm afraid I'll be going off in one of my dark periods, which wouldn't help with the problems I already had writing this. This story was born in order to write a certain scene, if I ever get there I'll link you guys the amazing fan art that inspired me, I haven't written that yet and I hope I will. Here's to hoping we don't all die of old age before I get around that!


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Even if you already read the sneak peek for chapter five, you...should probably read the beggining of the Chapter again. Trust me.
> 
> I called this chapter in my head "The one where we found out just how severe Jack's Imposter Syndrome is." Enjoy.

 

**_2070_ **

 

_ “You don’t seem worried about these allegations, Strike Commander.” _

 

_ “I am not.”  _

 

_ “You have to arrest him, a thorough line of questioning will shed light on these accusation and prove to the public Overwatch was not involved in any way.” _

 

_ The pen Jack was holding into his hand snapped in two, he took a deep breath and gingerly put it down. _

 

_ “Madam Secretary, let me be very clear about this, I have more faith in Commander Reyes than I do in anyone else. The allegations against Blackwatch are pure fantasy and we will get to the bottom of them.” _

_   
_ _ “Morrison, we have footage, witnesses, wire transfers! I didn’t want to believe it either but…” Gabrielle Adawe’s eyes were sad and pitying “You have to start consider the possibility that your feelings for Commander Reyes have made you blind to the reality of his actions.” _

 

_ Jack’s lips thinned, he stood up abruptly and opened the door with his ink stained hand _ __   
_   
_ __ “I think we said to each other all we had to say. Good evening, madam Secretary.” 

 

_ The woman sighed “I worry about you, Jack. It will be your head on a platter if we don’t get this under control.” She took an electronic badge from his purse and handed it to him “The warrant for his arrest. If you ever change your mind.” _

 

_ Jack took it and tossed it with emphatical carelessness on the desk, Adawe rolled her eyes _

 

_ “Good evening.” _

 

 

* * *

__

 

_ “Strike Commander, it is four and twelve minutes in the morning, as per Doctor Ziegler request I am here to remind you to sleep more” _

 

_ Jack snorted “Thanks Athena, I’ll take a nap on the couch in a minute.” _

 

_ “Doctor Ziegler thought you would say so, Strike Commander, and instructed me to tell you that your quarters have a perfectly nice bed.” _

 

_ “My bed is too big, Athena.” _

_   
_ _ “Would you like me to requisition a smaller bed, Strike Commander?” _

 

_ “No that’s not…” Jack hid his face into his palms and scrubbed vigorously “The size of the bed is not actually the problem, thank you, Athena, good night.”  _

_   
_ _ “Good night, Strike Commander.” _

 

_ Jack peeked from the space between his fingers, behind the glass of the frame Ana and Gabriel looked somberly at him.  _

_ The familiar pang of grief poked at him through his ribs, Ana would be so worried about him, she would nagged him about sleeping in the office, she would say is unhealthy, and she would know because she is a doctor. Jack missed bitching and telling her that having medical training is not the same as being a doctor. God, he hadn’t seen Fareeha or Reinhardt since he gave them the news, he had no idea how they were. He wondered if they blamed him at all, he wouldn’t be terribly surprised if they did.  _

 

_ He felt his throat closing up, his fingers closed around the knob of the desk drawer where he hid his secret stash of cigarettes and booze _

_   
_ _ “I thought I’d find you here.” One of the objects of his grief spoke from the doorway and his office chair almost tumbled down from the sudden movement of Jack shooting up to his feet. _

_   
_ _ “Gabriel.” _

 

_ The man was leaning in the doorway, Jack hadn’t heard him coming in. How had Jack not heard him coming in? Maybe Angela was right, his errant sleeping schedule was fucking him up. _

 

_ He tried to at least look like his heart wasn’t beating a mile a minute, and his palms didn’t just get sweaty.  _

_ He hadn’t talked to Gabriel in person since the man told him McCree left, four months ago, he had seen him occasionally, in his peripheral vision, always just leaving the room, just a bit too far away to call. _

_ Now he stood in front of him, ostensibly with the friendliest body language Jack had seen in the last two years, and Jack felt like a schoolboy asking his crush to prom. _

 

_ “I’m just back from a mission.”  _

_   
_ _ Gabriel stepped in the room, locked the door behind him with purposeful, slow movements. Jack just watched transfixed; two years ago, this would have been routine, Gabriel coming back from a mission, either seeking comfort or a way to ride out the adrenaline still pumping through his veins.  _

 

_ “Gabe, what…”  _

 

_ The kiss was hungry, on the edge of desperate. Jack could have stopped it, and Gabriel knew that, but he didn’t.  _ _   
_ _ A part of Jack wanted to take whatever Gabriel would give him, no matter how small, no matter the reason, another part of him rushed ahead of his brain and spoke without permission between one kiss and the other.  _

_   
_ _ “If you don’t mean it…Gabriel, if you don’t mean it, you should stop now.”  _

 

_ Gabriel held his stare, Jack couldn’t fathom to read what was going on in his eyes, he looked at war with himself. But that seemed to be Gabriel natural state these days, he ran hot one second and cold the next. _

 

_ “I mean it.” The skin of his fingertips was calloused and exquisite against Jack’s cheekbones. “And we can talk tomorrow morning, I promise. But I…” Gabriel’s voice was little more than a whisper when he said “Tonight...I need tonight.”  _

 

_ After Gabriel unilaterally decided they were over, after twenty five years, with “it’s not working anymore” as his only reason, it had taken two years for Jack to pick up the pieces and put himself back together in something vaguely resembling a functioning human being. Agreeing to sleep with him without talking about what happened was the single worst idea Jack had ever entertained. _

 

_ His fingers dug into Gabe’s shoulder, but before he could open his mouth to say just how a terrible idea it was, Gabriel murmured a broken “Please.”  _

 

_ And that was it. _

 

_ Their mouths came crashing together with urgency, their kiss was biting and bruising, more than it used to be. Gabriel stripped him of his coat, his teeth closing around the tendons of Jack’s neck and Jack’s hand tugged at the curls under his beanie.  _

 

_ Gabe sucked on the skin of his collarbone, leaving behind angry red marks. Usually Jack would have protested, scared someone would noticed them they day after. Now, he was grateful. He irrationally hoped they would never fade. _

 

_ “Missed you,” Jack confessed in a whisper, broken and raw while he kissed the shell of Gabe’s ear “Missed you so much.” Gabriel grabbed his shoulders and pushed him back, his dilated pupils made his eyes even darker.  _

 

_ “Show me.”  _

 

_ Jack grinned at the challenge, he shoved Gabriel toward the couch and he let himself fall seated on it. Jack got out of the rest of his clothes, deeply grateful they both foregone their tactical armor. Gabriel’s breath hitched, his fingers twisting the leather of the couch. Gabriel watched every inch of his body like it was the first he saw it, it made Jack want to put on a show for him. _

 

_ He edged closer, Gabe’s knees spread to let him do so, he sank to his knees with calculated slowness. He opened up Gabe’s pants and tugged his briefs down. Gabriel raised his hips to help him out and kicked out of them with grace, Jack could swear Gabriel was the only man he had ever known who could strip off his clothes without looking silly, drunk or both.  _

 

_ Jack sucked a bruise into the tender skin of the muscular thigh. Gabe’s cock, already hard, throbbed. His own erection ached in sympathy. When he finally took him into his mouth Gabe couldn’t seem to help the cry that fell off his lips or the jerk of his hips. _

 

_ He alternated expert twirls of his tongue around the head and the bobbing his head until Gabriel’s panting grew quicker and his gasps closer to one another. His cock begged for attention, leaking drops of precome, but the scrape of Gabriel’s nails on his own scalp gave him the strength to keep his hands off of it and on Gabriel’s wonderful contracting abdomen _ __   
__   
_ “S-stop.”  _ __   
  


_ Jack obeyed with one last cheeky lick. Gabriel shuddered and look down at him through his lashes. He waited, hugging Gabe’s waist and clean the sheen of sweat off his skin with his tongue.  _

_ Jack didn’t know how to pray, but he imagined worshipping to be something very similar to this. _

 

_ Gabriel finished taking off his shirt and bowed down to kiss him, he licked his own bitter taste off Jack’s lips. _

_   
_ _ “Fuck me.” He breathed, his lips fluttered against Jack’s while forming the words. Jack tried to raise to his feet without showing to Gabriel he was trembling with anticipation, he wasn't sure he managed. _

_ Luckily there was still some lube in his desk drawer from back when his life still made some sense.  _

_ Gabe had turned to face the wall, with one knee on the couch and his head resting on his arms on top of the back pillows, the curve of his back was simply mesmerizing. _

 

_ Jack kneeled again and coated his fingers in lube, despite the show of confidence, the clenching tightness around the tip of finger betrayed his nervousness. Somehow, knowing Gabe was nervous too soothed Jack’s anxiety away. He covered Gabe’s naked back with his body and slid his free arm around his chest. He nuzzled at Gabriel’s neck, leaving a trail of kisses on his shoulder. Slowly, his muscles relaxed, and Jack’s finger slipped in. Gabe’s moans of pleasure signaled him when he was ready for a second and eventually a third finger. When Gabriel threw back his head, his mouth falling open and his eyes fluttering close, Jack’s name spilling from his lips, Jack pushed in. _

 

_ Setting a pace while continuing to stay close to Gabriel was harder than it would be if he gave up his hold on him, but Jack couldn’t bring himself to do it. His left hand found Gabriel’s and he laced their fingers together, his right hand went to Gabriel’s cock and when he touched it Gabe’s let out a honest to god sob. _

_ The spasms of Gabriel’s hole around his dick were almost too good and denying himself release was agonizing, the muscles in his legs were on fire, but Jack didn’t care, Gabriel’s cries as he fucked into him were the most beautiful sound he had ever heard in his life.  _

 

_ Suddenly Gabriel’s body jolted and white hot come spilled over Jack’s hand; with a loud rumble that felt like it was punched out of him, Jack immediately followed, his hips losing their rhythm as his mind unraveled. _

 

_ God, he hoped he wasn’t crying.  _

 

_ They slid down unto the couch, Jack gingerly pulled out, his eyelids dropped. He felt like he relaxed for the first time in months, with the rush of dopamine in his bloodstream, all his lost sleep claimed its share of his energy. Gabe moved them into a semi comfortable position, as much as it was possible on his lumpy office couch. He brushed the back of Gabriel’s hand with his thumb and savored the tingling of Gabriel’s beard at the nape of his neck. _

 

_ As he lost grip on consciousness, his heart soaring with hope, he wondered what he could have been worrying about. _

 

_ Reason why it was a cold shower to wake up to his personal terminal beeping warning and a quiet spanish curse. _

 

_ Jack’s hair were all over, and his skin was still tender in the places where Gabriel had left his mark, he sat up while his eyes adjusted to the light. _

_ The shutters were closed and the only source of light came from his screen, it lit Gabriel’s skin in a bluish tint, he was still naked to the waist up, but had apparently found the time to wear his boxers again before attempt to illegally break into Jack’s personal terminal. _

 

_ For a few moments, while the cold feeling of betrayal seeped into his bones, Jack tried to come up with a reasonable excuse for Gabriel to go behind his back like this. Then he tried to feel furious, to skip to the rage. Instead, he just felt numb. He dried the tear who had traitorously made his way to his cheek and cleared his throat _

_   
_ _ “They changed all the passcodes few weeks ago, cyberwarfare concerns.”  _

 

_ Gabriel’s head whipped to look at him, his eyes wide and mouth open like a kid caught with his hand in the goddamn cookie jar _

_   
_ _ “Jack…” _

 

_ Jack recognized that tone. It was Gabe’s ‘Be reasonable’ tone. It never failed to have the opposite effect on Jack.  _

_ He put on his underwear and gathered all of the Gabriel’s clothes he could find and tossed them in the arms of their owner  _

 

_ “I can explain.” _

 

_ “You can  _ explain _?” Jack was trembling. Look at that, he made it to the rage phase after all. “You can explain how you had sex with me and then tried to hack my computer like I’m the mark in a fucking honeypot mission? You can explain why you manipulated me into thinking you wanted to get back together to get what you wanted?”  _

 

_ “Why did you change your password, Jack?” Gabriel was looking at him, his eyes were narrowed like  _ Jack _ was the guilty one. “Is there something you don’t want me to see?” _

 

_ Jack had to mouth the words silently before he was completely sure that yes, that was the moronic question he had just been asked. _

__   
_ “I just told you why, you insufferable fucker!” _ __   
  


_ “Yes. How convenient.” _

 

_ Jack did a double take “Convenient?” Gabriel’s eyes didn’t betray any emotion, he looked professional, passionless, like he was in the middle of his interrogation room instead of almost naked in Jack’s office. _

_   
_ _ “Yes, Jack, convenient. Like Reinhardt taking the fall for you after London, or the only other person with influence around here mysteriously going MIA on your watch.”  _

 

_ “Are you saying that my best friend dying was  _ convenient  _ for me _ ?”  __   
  


_ Gabriel didn’t answer, then again, he didn’t have to. He had made his mind very clear. Jack couldn't stop gaping, like the idiot he had been. _

_   
_ _ “Who  _ are  _ you?”   _

 

_ “Me?I’m the man I’ve always been, Jack. But you...You have no idea what I've been through because of you!” Gabriel spat venomously, he looked absolutely disgusted by Jack.  _

 

_ Jack had to fight the impulse of covering himself, covering the bruises of their... _ lovemaking _. Ah! _

 

_ “Get the fuck out of my office.”  _

 

_ When the sound of Gabriel steps fade out from the hallway, Jack’s back that had stood straight in righteous fury until that moment, fold in half like someone cut off his strings. _

 

_ His hand searched for his desk, he needed the support if he didn’t want to end up hyperventilating and sobbing on the floor. His palm felt something, but it wasn’t the wood of the table. _

 

_ It was the warrant for Gabriel Reyes’ arrest. _

 

Soldier 76 let the water fill his cupped hands and splashed his face with it, he scrubbed vigorously and eyed his reflection in the mirror. He frowned at himself, his knitted eyebrows made the lines in his forehead all more pronounced. 

 

_ You’re too old for thinking about sex all the time again.  _

 

The memory lingered despite his best efforts. The hurt did too. 

 

_ He was right. He was right and you threw a hissy fit and left him alone. _

 

Seventy-six took the towel and dabbed his face dry. He was about to clasp his mouth piece back to place when Gabriel walked in, his fists were clenched and his jaw set. 

 

“When you said the UN was compromised…”

 

“Close the door, for fuck sake!”  Soldier 76 moved to push the closing door button, the locker room he holed himself in was purposefully rarely visited by the new “ _ Overwatch agents _ ”, but there was no need to risk it. Gabriel intercepted him, he grabbed his hand and spun him, forcing him to face him

  
“When you said the UN was compromised,” he repeated as if Seventy-six hadn’t spoke at all. “Did you mean that it wasn’t you giving orders for Blackwatch?” 

 

Jack felt the familiar rush of shame, that he hadn’t noticed, that he hadn’t known.   
  
“I told you Talon was pulling the strings.”

 

Gabe pulled away from him, he took off his beanie and brushed a hand through his hair.

 

“MY STRINGS!” His yell reverberated off the walls. “That’s what you meant, isn’t it? _ My  _ strings.” He kicked one of the stall’s door, its hinges screeched and gave out, making the slab of wood fall to the ground.

Gabriel’s shoulders rose and fell with his heavy breathing

  
“The things I have done, Jack…” He choked up and Jack felt the primal urge to comfort him, to just wrap him in arms and tell him everything was going to be fine.

 

Everything was  _ not  _ going to be fine. There were no amounts of hugs Jack could dish out to make amends for what he did. 

 

Gabe staggered to the wall, leaning his back against it until his legs gave out. Slowly, he slid down to the cold, tile floor . He rubbed his eyes with the heels of his hands 

  
“It was the press conference.” He breathed “The reason why Jerk...I mean, why your Gabriel Reyes broke up with you. What you said about Blackwatch. After the Slipstream debacle, they asked you about a black op in Russia.”

 

Jack grimaced at the mention of the the break up and tried to remember how that press conference went. Honestly, he couldn’t recall at all. He remembered the weeping Mrs Oxton he had just got off the phone with, the files about Lena he had read and re read again while the memory of the brief encounter had haunted him.How she had chirped “It’s an honor to meet you, sir!” and he had said something about how remarkable she was for her young age and wished her luck.

 

He hadn’t know who he was more angry with: the scientists who swore the tech was ready, or himself for believing them. It didn’t matter, a young woman was dead and ultimately it was his fault. If a journalist had chosen that moment to start asking irrelevant questions and spewing what he had thought to be conspiracy bullshit...yeah, he could see how he probably bit their head off. Or the diplomatic version of it, he guessed, god forbid Jack Morrison actually spoke his mind and lost the love of the masses.

 

“I had this fantasy in my head” Gabriel said, his voice hoarse “That I was the guy doing in the shadows doing all the things Overwatch couldn’t. Necessary things. For the greater good.” He sighed “But I’m just Talon’s lakey.” His eyes seemed to stare at something far off when he whispered “Just a murderer.”

 

“It wasn’t your fault.” Focus seemed to slot back into Gabriel’s gaze at the sound Jack’s voice. He gave him a wry smile. Jack pursued his lips before insisting “You were the only one who noticed something was off, you tried to warn me, I...”

 

_ I wished you’d trusted me.  _ Jack recoiled from that thought and squashed it down viciously.

 

“I should have noticed someone forging my orders, but I was too busy chatting up journalists and politicians all day. Enjoying the glory I didn’t deserve, never getting my hands dirty...” 

 

Reaper’s voice had flung that accusations at him so many times it was almost cathartic to speak them out loud.

 

Gabriel wobbled back to his feet, he had the most perplexed of faces

“Jack what the hell are you talking about?”

 

“What do you mean?”

 

“This vapid, slithering figurehead you keep describing, that’s not you  _ at all _ , you know that, right?”

 

Seventy-six didn’t answer, Gabriel seemed to seek something on his face and whatever he found he didn’t seem to like. He stepped closer, one hand raised to brush Jack’s cheek before Jack’s flinched away from it

 

“It is.” He swatted away Gabe’s hand “I left you alone to make all the hard calls during the Crisis, so I could be everyone's friend.” 

 

Gabriel had to see what Soldier 76 had come to understand. 

 

“I made a show of protesting when they gave me the position you worked for, but I accepted it, didn’t I?” 

 

If he could expose what he did, maybe Gabriel could still save himself. 

 

“How many times did you tell me how uncanny my ability of convincing someone, making them believe it was their idea all along, is?”

 

_ Of course it was something you said that broke us up, Jack. I’m not the one charming my CO and profit off our relationship, that’s you game isn’t it?  _ I  _ never faked my feelings, can you say the same?  _   
  
“It was always  _ my  _ face on the posters,  _ my  _ statue in the street,  _ me  _ who received all those shiny medals.”

 

_ Can you say with absolute certainty, you didn’t just convince yourself you were in love so you could feel better about fooling around with your superior officer? It was certainly useful to rise up through the ranks, wasn’t it? _

 

“Isn’t it a bit odd for someone who supposedly doesn’t care for these things at all?”

 

_ Just a dumb hick from Indiana, who in their right mind would choose you to save the world unless  _ I _ recommended you? It’s not a case they chose you’re pretty blonde head to lead only after the war was over and I did all the heavy lifting. _

 

Gabe’s frown left his face just to be replaced by something like indulgence, and it made Jack even more furious. Gabriel had to understand, Jack could not fix what he had done in the past but he could save Gabriel the same pain.

 

When he opened his mouth, Soldier 76 cut him off 

“I arrested you, have you heard about that?” 

 

That, finally, seemed to give Gabriel pause. 

 

Soldier 76 pressed on “You knew about Overwatch, you wanted answers. But I didn’t want any, I was fine where I was. And you know what? I  _ jumped  _ on the chance to get back at you for the breakup.” 

 

“You wouldn’t.” He seemed to hesitate, he averted his eyes and said in a bit more than a whisper “Jack wouldn’t.”

 

“Oh, Jack  _ would.  _ Jack  _ did _ .” He sneered “When you go back to your timeline, or reality or whatever, do yourself a favor: kill him and make it look like an accident.” 

 

Gabriel sprung into action, he grabbed the front of his jacket and twisted the leather, tugging him closer.

 

“If you were anybody else…” He growled with his teeth bared, Jack could see his other hand curled into a fist 

 

“Athena.” 

 

_ “Yes, Mr. Morrison?” _

 

“The recording of Gabriel’s arrest. Do you still have it?”

 

_ “Mr. Morrison”  _ She seemed annoyed by his request  _ “As you know, those files were unauthorized and had been declared confidential and inadmissible to trial.” _

 

“It was my office they bugged, I was there, I can look at the tapes if I want.”

  
_ “I feel that if taken out of context…” _

_   
_ “Just play it.”

 

Athena was probably offended by his curt tone, because she switched the nearest screen on without further reply.

 

_ “Commander Reyes.”  _ His own cool voice came from the screen. Jack recalled how he had steeled himself for the encounter, how he had boxed up all his raw bleeding emotions, the hurt, the heartbreak, the anger, the longing and tried to shove it as deep as humanly possible. Especially the longing. 

 

Gabriel turned to the screen, to Jack’s old voice, like he couldn’t help himself to do so. His grip on Soldier 76’s jacket eased off.

 

On the screen Gabriel strode confidently into Jack’s office, his stare hard and his smirk unforgiving

 

_ “I thought I wasn’t welcome here anymore.” _ He sniffed _ “Have you been drinking again?”  _ Gabriel’s disgusted tone hit him almost as hard as it did when he heard it the first time, luckily the camera angle didn’t show Jack’s obvious wince. Especially soon after Gabriel had dumped his sorry ass, Jack had gotten absolutely wasted a couple of times and practically went begging to Gabe’s quarters, knocking for hours and talking to the door. Gabriel had not been impressed. 

 

Jack had drank a bit to gather his courage to burn down every possible bridge with the love of his life and he wasn’t surprised the man had been able to tell.

 

That day, he had refused to be rattled, and the lack of response had made Gabriel mad

  
_ “Last night wasn’t enough for you? If you want to bend over the desk I’m not going to –” _

_   
_ _ “Shut  _ up _.”  _  Seventy-six could see in his own past self movements how he regretted giving in to the provocation and snapping, how he tried to recollect himself.  _ “You’ve reached the end of my patience, Commander Reyes. You’ll order that little traitorous army of yours to turn themselves in, if they do so maybe they will be shown mercy when it’s time to decide how many decades they’re gonna spend in prison.”  _

 

_ “I am not going to stop and neither will they.”  _ Gabriel slammed his fist on Jack’s desk. “ _ I'm at war, Jack. And I need to know if you're my friend or my enemy.”  _ He jabbed a finger in the middle of Overwatch insignia on Jack’s tactical armor  _ “You can recognize Overwatch has a problem and work with me, or I bring it all down. And I don't care who goes down with it.”  _

 

_ “I won’t let you destroy everything I’ve worked for.”  _ Jack stood up, his Strike Commander’s duster swirling dramatically behind him “ _ I'll protect Overwatch, even from you.”  _ The door opened and a squad of ten armed guards surrounded Gabriel. 

  
_ “What are you doing?”  _ Gabe’s lips curled in contempt, his eyes never left Jack’s, not even when the soldiers made their move to take a hold of him. 

__   
_ “Gabriel Reyes,” _ Jack had been proud how dispassionate the words had come out “ _ you’re under arrest.” _ __   
  


_ “They will burn down the building before I make it to a trial.”  _ Gabe warned as he was forced in handcuffs, the first sign of something like alarm creeping into his voice _. “You can still stop it, Jack, listen to me for five fucking minutes.”  _

 

Jack had thought that ‘ _ they’ _ was Blackwatch. He had thought Gabriel was threatening retaliation. Jack was a moron.

 

_ “Overwatch does not negotiate with terrorists.”  _ Jack spat coldly. 

 

The screen went black. 

 

Gabriel stood there, staring at the point where one of  Jack’s worst memories played out like it could intimidate the screen into giving him answers. The silence was positively eery. 

 

“I  _ knew _ it!” Lena’s unmistakable voice proclaimed triumphant from the door. Soldier 76 resisted the urge to grab what was left of his receding hairline and pull hard.

 

 

* * *

 

Lena Oxton had been sent to retrieve them for the upcoming mission, she looked genuinely happy to see Jack and excitedly jumped around him like a puppy. Gabriel watched Jack explain to Lena no less than three times that he did not want anybody to know about him while she kept insisting than announcing the Strike Commander had returned would be the most fantastic thing since sliced bread.

 

He was still in front of the screen, his feet rooted in place. Jack’s and Lena voices suddenly felt like nails scraping a chalkboard. 

 

“ _Shut_ _the fuck up!_ ”

 

His roar seemed to startle the young girl, her smile fell and posture stiffened. Gabriel looked Soldier 76 straight into his eyes, this pitiful bitter person that Jack had turned out to be and he  _ hated  _ him. 

 

“Why did you show me this? Do you enjoy making people as miserable as you are?” 

 

Lena head whipped from Soldier 76 to Gabriel very rapidly “Err..” she said slowly backing out of the room “I’m going to tell Captain Amari you need a couple more minutes?”

 

Gabriel ignored her, Soldier 76 gave him a small rueful smile  “It may be sound unbelievable in the light of what I just told you, but I’m actually trying to protect you this time.”

 

_ By breaking my heart?  _ “Get out of my sight,  _ Seventy-six _ ”.

 

If asked, Gabriel couldn’t tell how much time he spent sitting in the locker room waiting for his hands to stop trembling and his chest to stop hurting. His love for Jack,  _ his trust _ in Jack, has been his true North through the years. No matter how crazy the world got, Gabriel Reyes could count on Jack Morrison having his back. That’s just how things were supposed to be.

When Ana told them about her divorce and her ex-husband moving back to Canada, Jack had looked at him horrified  _ “If we divorce, we’ll still be friends, right?”  _ He said, the idea of not having Gabriel into his life at all, he told him, was inconceivable  _ “You haven’t even married me yet, cabrón”  _ Gabe had replied. They had laughed.

 

And it had took all of  _ two  _ years for Jack to decide they were as good as strangers, that he deserved to be court martialed. Jack had to know it meant prison for life and he hadn’t batted an eye, he had stood there and ordered Gabriel to be taken away like a petty criminal. 

A  _ terrorist.  _

No matter what heinous crime Jack would have committed, Gabriel would have never done that to him. He would have buried the bodies, destroyed the evidence, no questions asked. 

 

The Jack he knew would have never betrayed him like that, which begged the question...did he know Jack at all? 

 

_ “The deadlock boy you captured…” _

_ “What about him?” _ __   
_ “I want you to go in there and offer him to join Blackwatch.” _ __   
_ “You got to be fucking kidding me, Jack, he’s seventeen.” _ __   
_ “Would you rather he spend the rest of his life in prison? Look at it this way, you take him in, give him something to belong to, and he will spill the names of every other gang members he knows, I promise you.” _ _   
_ __ “You just have a bleeding heart for lost causes.” 

_ “You don’t?” _

 

For years Gabriel had thought Jack encouraged him to take McCree in because he saw potential in the boy, but sure enough Jesse  _ did  _ give them all the names he knew, and thanks to his help Deadlock was all but disbanded. 

Had he just been like the fools he always made fun of, the idiots who always fell for Jack’s sweet words? 

 

It was a dark, sickening thought and it kept Gabriel awake for the next three nights, until Ana put her foot down a threatened to stab him with a tranquilizer. 

 

“It will be some days, maybe even weeks before Winston manages to send you home. You will have to sleep some time before then.” She scolded him, he grumbled a resented “Fine.” And stuck to avoid her as much as possible.

 

To be fair, he tried to avoid anyone as much as he possibly could, Jesse being the glaring exception. They didn't talk about the past again, the cowboy seemed to have learned his lesson and mainly spent the time telling him stories about what he had been up to since Overwatch fell. 

 

“A blog? You have a blog?”

 

“I  _ write _ in a blog, the blog ain't mine.”

 

“The new peacekeepers?” Gabriel snickered reading the headline “ by Joel Morricone.” 

 

Jesse seemed proud to have made him finally draw a smile. “Nobody made the connection yet” 

 

Gabriel sombered, his mind occupied by Jack and Soldier 76 again “People are idiots.” 

 

He clenched his jaw so much his teeth started hurting. How stupid had he been trying to console Seventy-six all this time? The man had tried to warn him, he had told him about how he hadn’t believed Gabriel, it was so painfully clear how he felt responsible for it all. Well, he  _ was.  _ Seventy-six had been right and Gabriel was starting to wonder if he ought to take the other accusations the soldier had made against Jack more seriously than he had.

 

Finally,  _ finally, _ after the longest week of Gabe’s life Winston called him in in his lab. Lena, or Tracer, as apparently she liked to be called, was perched on his shoulder like a parrot. Ana, Reinhardt and Torbjörn were busy debating something between themselves, they painted a nostalgic picture and Gabriel felt guilty for a brief second about not having enjoyed more time with them before remembering not even one of them had spent a fucking word in his defense when he was accused of treason. 

 

Soldier 76 was there as well, trying to fade in the background, clearly quietly hoping none would talk to him .

 

“So.” Gabriel started after clearing his throat “You replicated the time machine?” 

  
“Of course he did, Winston is a  _ genius! _ And quite the expert in bringing people lost in time home, if I may say so.” Tracer peeped, poking one of the gorilla’s cheek.    
  
“Well, as I explained it would be inaccurate calling it a time ma–” 

 

“But it’s finished?” Gabriel pressed, though the idea of facing Jack rattled him, he couldn’t help but feeling anxious of going back where and when he belonged.  “It’ll work?”   
  


“The device is ready.” He took off his glasses to clean the lens “And I made some modifications. You and one other among us will be able to teleport in a secure location. Funnily enough that’s much more similar to how the Talon design was  _ supposed  _ to work, but they made some really gross miscalculations in the Tao-Green equation applied to…” Winston trailed off, if it was because he noticed Gabriel’s lips thinning and his nostrils’ flaring or because he realized none else in the room had the faintest idea about what he was talking about Gabriel couldn’t tell.

To be fair, Torbjörn looked pretty interested. 

“This will teleport you in your Geneva” He said pointing at one unassuming disk-like little machine on the table in front of him “And then the other agent and Reaper will use this secondary device” He pointed at another piece tech identically to the first, except where the first one had a blue band the second had a red band on it. “To get back here, in Gibraltar.”

  
“Wouldn’t have been easier to just switch us back?”

  
“Yes, it would have been, but for one, my device is much more stable, no apocalyptic black skies and the threat to rip apart the universe as we know it. And secondly, what if Reaper is dead underground? Or in active battle zone? This way you’ll be sure not to materialize on a mine.” Winston peeled himself a banana “You’re welcome.”

 

Gabriel walked to the table and picked up the device “I want Jesse with me.”

 

“McCree left on a mission yesterday night with Genji and Angela.” Ana said with an apologetic smile, then she bit her lip like she was trying to figure out the best way to tell him something he didn’t want to hear. “You know I think would best to send in the past? Someone not recognizable.”

  
“Ana…” Gabe tried to shush her as soon as he understood where she was going with that line of reasoning.

 

“Someone like…”   
  
“Ana, no.”

  
“Soldier 76, you wouldn’t mind would you?” 

 

To Gabe’s horror, Seventy-six gave Ana a sharp nod

 

“I mind!” He protested. Having to deal with Jack in light of all he learned in this freak alternate future would be hard enough  _ without _ Seventy-six standing right there. “I’m sure we can’t possibly entrust Winston’s time machine to someone who’s not even part of Overwatch, can we?”

  
Winston stroked the hair under his chin “I must say, I think Gabriel’s right. We know you trust him Ana, but Soldier 76 is not one of us.”

 

“Looks like the Strike Commander agrees with me.” Gabe grinned satisfied.

  
“Oh I wouldn’t say I’m...really it’s not...It would be inappropriate for me to…” 

 

Gabriel gave a pat to Winston’s Tracer-free shoulder “Don’t sell yourself short, nerd.”

 

Seventy-six huffed “I know I am asking a lot, but me and Ana have studied Reaper extensively, I’m your best bet to bring him home. I promise you.”

 

What on Earth was Jack doing? Did he... _ want  _  to go? Gabriel bet he set Ana up to push for him, being proposed for the mission without looking desperate. The slimy little– 

  
“He’s right Winston, if someone has to bring Reaper home it really should be Ja–” Tracer seemed to realize too late that words had come out of her mouth and just drawled the “aaaaaaa” for a long time. Then she closed her mouth and snapped her lips with a resounding  _ pop.  _

 

Seventy-six and Ana looked ready to bang their heads against the nearest wall. Gabriel was suddenly very glad Jesse wasn’t there because he would have certainly caused a racket. 

 

“ _ Jack?!” _ Winston moved so abruptly Tracer, who was was studying very closely, very innocently a corner of the roof had to blink away from her perch or risk an undignified fall.

 

Reinhardt gaped, his cheeks paled, his eyes snapping from Ana, to Gabriel, to Jack

  
_ “Why do you keep doing this to me?!” _ He cried, his large arms flailing in frustration. Torbjörn stepped aside to avoid them and rolled his eyes 

  
“Oh come on Rein, everyone and their mother figured it out who  _ Soldier 76  _ was.” He scoffed even as Winston’s and Reinhardt’s expressions suggested the possibility of Jack still being alive, let alone a criminal vigilante, had never crossed their minds. 

 

Gabriel rubbed his eyes “Ugh!” he growled, throwing his hands in the air. He could recognized a defeat when it stared him in the face. “Fine!”. 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to all of you absolute sweethearts who kept cheering me on in the comments, you're the reason this chapter exists.
> 
> Also a special thanks to my beta, Irene (Ufficiosulretro) who FINALLY read this, w4nderingstar who is just the best, and my hubby whose terrible ideas always give me a clear picture of what I don't want to write. (I love you, babe)


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Check the end notes for potential warnings.
> 
> You all see this coming.

The next three days Jack was swooped in a whirlwind of events and Reaper could only follow them on the feeds.

The official story was that Jack went off grid because Petras' asked him for protection; scared by his associates, the man wanted to get out from Talon's thumb and they killed him for it. Luckily, before Jack found him dead, Petras had given him much information, which Jack used to clean up Overwatch and wage war on the terror organization.

Jack sold it splendidly and the media and the public sucked it up enthusiastically, the only downside was that Gabriel had to choose a more inconspicuous set of clothing since Jack pinned the murder on Reaper, just in case some of the guards remembered him. As for Jack, he justified knocking them out because he wasn't sure who, near Petras, he could trust.

 

Gabriel, on his part, spent that time trying to figure out what the hell had happened and what he was feeling about it.

 

For years he had blamed Jack for just about everything, it was so much easier that way.

But being back, establishing that Jack wasn’t and had never in fact been on Talon’s side, seeing with his own eyes the love and devotion Jack had for him –for past-him at least– all over his stupid pretty face, clear as day; he had to admit that he had made his own terrible mistakes.

 

Back in the day he would have given anything to see Jack fight with him and for him, but Jack seemed set on refusing to even entertain the idea that Gabriel could be right and something was wrong. He hadn’t trusted Jack enough to tell him everything when it still counted and they both paid the price.

Now, Jack had shot five rounds in William Petras chest and Gabriel knew exactly whom he did it for. It seemed that no matter Gabriel’s intentions of protecting Jack this time around, he still ended up fucking things up.

 

_ << Is my Gabe okay?>> _

 

Gabriel sighed.

 

**_< < I have no idea.>> _ **He replied honestly.

 

That had been Jack’s last attempt at communication for two days until his screen lightened up again with

 

_ <<Come by today?>> _

 

And that’s how Gabriel found himself tapping Jack’s window glass, without a mask, only a hoodie to partially hide his face. At least he looked human. Human- _ish_.

 

Jack’s appeared in the frame of the window, he still had bed hair despite it being late in the morning, he took a long drag from the cigarette he had in his mouth and stared at Gabriel like he was considering leaving him outside in the rain. The smoke came out of his nostrils and Jack tipped his head, as to gesture Gabriel to come in and he took it as permission to wraith himself into the room.

They had fixed the damage from Gabe’s disruptive arrival, the glass was new, the scorch marks were gone, almost as nothing had happened at all.

  
“Since when do you smoke?” Gabriel ventured, he guessed unhealthy habits were a safer topic than traveling back in time to kidnap your ex. He paused and sniffed the air “Are those _Chesterfields?_ ”

 

Back in S.E.P, Jack had pestered him about his choice of cigarettes, he kept saying that if Gabriel _insisted_ in ruining his lungs and throat, he could at least smoke something cooler.

Gabriel had blowed a puff of smoke into his face making him cough and scrunch his face, then looking dead serious announced “Smoking is not cool, Jack.”

Jack had waived his hand in front of his nose trying to disperse the stink “Ugh, _I know._  You’re the one trying to look edgy and ruining your voice in the process.”

Gabe had scoffed at him “ _Mira_ , for one, you have no high ground to judge other people’s voices–”

“It’s a Morrison family thing, I can’t help it!”  

“And secondly I’m a big ass man and I’ll smoke whatever brand I like.”

 

Gabriel had ended up quitting not long after that though, S.E.P doctors had insisted on it.

 

Jack put out the cigarette, squashing it into an ashtray “I only smoke when ...” He sighed “When you’re not around for too long, the smell...it reminds me of you.” His shoulders slumped, Gabriel lowered his head to be sure his face wasn’t visible “It’s stupid. You haven’t smelled like this for decades it’s just...my brain never got the memo, I guess.”

 

Gabriel’s heart gave a painful lurch in his chest.

 

“Show me your face, Gabe, it’s the least you can do.”

 

Gabriel hesitated, but Jack was right. All the anger and the doubts that had seemed so reasonable at the time, all the purposefully hurtful things he had said to keep Soldier 76 out of his life because he just couldn’t deal with the idea of having been so wrong for so long, it was all meaningless now. _God,_ his mission here ... Looking him in the eye, was the bare minimum, alright.

 

Jack didn’t gasp when the hood fell back, he didn’t give away much in terms of surprise in seeing his skin turned gray or his eyes turned red, his body wavered, letting thin tendrils of smoke at the edges, but Gabriel held it together.

 

He tried not to squirm under Jack’s inspection, the feeling of his eyes picking up every little _wrong_ detail about him. Did he notice the new scars? Could he tell his skin was cold? Under any other circumstance he would have been proud of the inscrutability of Jack’s expression.

Gabriel liked to think he wasn’t a particularly vain man, but as he stood there it was hard not to feel just a little bit self conscious. A divide between him, skirting the definition of human, and, well, Jack.

Arguably, the most handsome man Gabe had ever met.

He tried to distract himself from the freckles left over from the summer sun on Jack’s nose, focusing on his hair, he wondered if he should warn Jack about his impending receding hairline, then again, maybe without the stress of his life crumbling around him, he would not have to deal with neither that or his hair hurrying to give him a silver fox look. Which was _kind_ of a pity because Gabe happened to find it particularly…

 

“Winston says you and Gabriel switched places, that wherever you come from, that’s where he is now.” Jacks said ripping him from his daydreaming with a healthy fresh mix of good news and guilt. Having sent his counterpart in a bleak future beat having erased him from the time space continuum, but it was still a pretty dick move.

“He’s working on a way to bring him back, but without knowing what you did…” Jack turned, pretending something on the desk by the window needed his attention but Gabriel could see he was just shuffling papers around. “He said it could take a while to bring him home.”

His tone didn’t betray concern, but the taut lines of his muscles told another story.

 

“I’m sorry.” Gabe said sincerely, Jack’s movements stilled

 

“For which part?” Jack asked, his voice raspier than usual “For the kidnapping? For taking my fiancé’s place and making me believe he was in mortal danger?” He whirled around and Gabe could see his cheeks were flushed and his bright blue eyes were glittering “For believing I was a traitor? For lying to my face?” Jack’s voice rose to shouting level of volume “You will have to be more specific!”

 

“For all of it.” Gabriel said. “In my time you went to the Slipstream experiment, it was a shit show by the way.” His own excuses didn’t sound very good now that it was the moment to voice them out loud, but he clenched his jaw, then forced himself to continue. “And you went in front of the press and it went just as well as our little chat did, except I didn’t know about Petras, which just made it all look so much worse. At first I just wanted space, time to find answers.” Because his brain was a sadist, it supplied him with the clear memory of how gutted Jack had looked when he gave him the ring he had found. Of how he begged for an explanation and Gabe had refused him any. “But the more days went by, the angrier I started to be with you.” Gabe crossed his arms, his nails digging into his bicep. “I thought... you were the Strike Commander and you _must_ have known. I thought that if it were me…”

 

It was the wrong thing to say, Jack had reluctantly forced himself to listen to his explanation, but as the last sentence came out of Gabriel’s mouth, his stare hardened.

 

“And it should have been you, right?”

 

Gabe opened his mouth to deny it, to say that his bitterness was just a stupid rumor, to say he never cared one bit about being Strike Commander, but he ended up closing it again without speaking. For every moment he had spent being glad he was not the one shaking hands and sitting for hours on end through diplomatic summits, there had been other moments where he had wished he had been asked to. Even if it was just to refuse it.

 

“So you found out by chance, because I flew off the handle over someone’s question, but I just _had_ to know.” Jack clicked his tongue “Because you’re always so very forthcoming with information regarding Blackwatch that it would be crazy that I missed something being off.”

  
“You have a right to be mad, but I already apologized and there’s is not much else I can do now.”

 

Jack’s eyebrows climbed his forehead “You could stop lying.”

 

Gabriel took a deep breath and resisted the urge to rub his temples “I’m not lying to you.”

 

“Right, you’re just not telling me something. Which is a…” He mimicked air-quotes with his fingers “Completely different thing.”

 

Gabriel recalled having made that kind of point in the past and he wasn’t particularly proud of it, but what else could Jack want to know?

  
“You haven’t followed an order you didn’t like once, in the thirty years I have known you, if you’re here it's because you wanted to be here.” He smiled, but it was a small bitter thing. “And I think I know what the objective was.”

 

Oh _, fuck._

 

Gabriel squeezed his eyes shut wiping one hand across his mouth. Jack’s expression didn’t change, as if Gabe’s reaction only confirmed what he already knew, though the bravado bled out of him and he leaned back on the desk. He was shaking his head, Gabriel could see him spiraling from where he stood.

 

“I thought I had a chance at preventing everything that went wrong; Overwatch falling, me becoming this…” He stared at his ash gray hands, but they failed to suggest him an appropriate term “Thing. I...I couldn’t pass it up.”

 

“Even if it meant killing me?” Jack’s asked in a whisper, like some part of him still refused to believe it.

  
Gabe clenched his fists until the knuckles whitened “I wouldn’t have done it without being sure –”

  
“But you _planned_ to!” Jack roared.

 

“Yes, Jack, I planned to!” Gabe sprang towards him so fast he couldn’t tell if he had ghosted or not, but from the way Jack reeled back, he probably did. “I spent the last six years obsessing about how you stabbed me in the back and left me to become a monster and even after that it took one look…” He grabbed Jack’s arms, as if everything he wanted to say could miraculously flow from him to Jack by virtue of touching alone “I failed my mission the second I saw you, I was never going to be able to kill you.” He lowered his voice and looked for Jack’s eyes “Because there’s a fucking reason I hide from you in the future and it’s that I still love you, I will always love you and I honestly have no idea how I managed to forget that.”

 

Jack’s was staring at him transfixed, his mouth slightly opened, Gabe could not look away.

 

Suddenly hyper aware of their closeness, of their bodies just shy of touching, of their faces inches apart, without meaning to, his attention snapped to Jack’s lips.

 

It was still somehow a surprise when he got kissed.

 

Last time Gabriel had Jack’s hands on him, it had been a self inflicted torture.

Part of him, the voice that had begged him to just talk with Jack already, had known that what he was doing was unforgivable. That even if he found irrefutable evidence that Jack had been innocent all this time and came clean, explained to Jack the situation, confessed that he had been hurting just as much as Jack had, that he had been scared and alone...he still wouldn’t been able to justify manipulating him like that.

Every kiss had felt like hacking their bond with a machete.

 

But _this_? This felt like being reborn. And not the nanotechnological horror fest that had actually been his journey back from the dead, more like the metaphorical nice kind.

 

Jack’s palms were so warm, roaming under his shirt, he felt like he was heating up every spot he brushed, personally reawakening every nerve. Gabriel buried his fingers into Jack’s hair and he earned himself a moan.

Jack twisted the edge of his hoodie and pushed him to sit on the bed, their knees knocked together when Jack walked up to him. His naked legs — when the fuck had Jack got out of his pants? — straddled Gabe’s thighs, he stopped kissing Gabriel only long enough to tug his shirt over his head and toss it away.

  
Gabe wondered how Jack could manage to sit on his lap, completely naked, the pupils of his beautiful cornflower blue eyes blown wide, his cheeks pink, while he was still fully clothed and make _him_ feel exposed and vulnerable.

 

His breath hitched when Jack took two of Gabe’s fingers into his mouth. Gabriel had to remind himself to close his own damn mouth before he started to look like an idiot. He stared at Gabe as he ran his tongue over the digits and his instructions couldn’t have been more crystal clear if he had spoken them out loud.

 

He wanted to protest they probably could use the lube but Jack bit down on the tendon of his neck and whatever he was about to say flew out of his mind. Jack snatched his hand and made good use of his spit slicked fingers.

 

“Don’t move.” Jack ordered.

Gabe obeyed, even if his pulse quickened and he gulped down a sob when Jack freed his erection by the chafing constraint of his pants, those were minor infractions at best.

Jack wiped one hand over his mouth and then used the wetness gathered on his palm to slick Gabriel’s cock, his thumb spread the precum that was beading there too, still, Gabe knew Jack was pushing it.

  
“Careful.” He begged, the very last thing he wanted was to hurt Jack right now. Again. More. Whatever. Jack’s glare was unimpressed and nipped at Gabriel’s lower lip, possibly to shut him up, as he sank himself on Gabe’s cock.

 

Gabe dragged his blunt nails along the muscles of his back, but otherwise stayed still. Jack took his time to adjust, moving slowly at first, languidly kissing Gabe, his hand buried into his beard.

Then, he started riding Gabriel, his arms wrapping around Gabe’s neck.

 

“Gabe,” Jack chanted, his voice huskier than usual, fingers digging into Gabriel’s shoulders “Gabe, Gabe, Gabe…”

 

They came one soon after the other, Gabriel panting to meet the movement of Jack’s hips, his fingers curled around Jack’s cock.

He held him close after the last spasm settled, his forehead resting on Jack’s chest.

 

“You okay?” Gabe asked.

 

“Better now.” Jack hummed and hid his face in the crook of Gabriel’s neck. “I’m sleepy.”

 

Jack always got sleepy after sex, Gabe felt a pang of guilt remembering how he planned around it.

  
“You’re tensing again.” Jack grumbled.

 

“I’m sorry” Lies by omissions were still lies, wasn’t that what Jack had said? “Last time we had sex I was a dick and I took advantage of you...it was bad.”

 

They moved to get their heads on the pillows, Gabriel picked the blanket and covered them both. Jack looked up at him through fluttering eyelashes like he was struggling to stay awake.

  
“Sounds like you fucked up.”   
  
“I _really_ did.”

 

“You should apologize.”

  
“I’m sorry.”

 

A laugh rumbled into Jack’s chest and he snuggled closer, their noses touching.

  
“Not to me, idiot.” Jack yawned.

 

Something coiled painfully inside Gabriel’s chest when he thought of his Jack, of all the things he had said and done to him. He understood, because he knew Jack better than he knew himself, why this Jack had kissed him. When he had said what he said Jack had stopped seeing Reaper and he had seen Gabriel Reyes, the person he missed and wanted there.

Gabriel knew this because he knew Jack, but also because it had been the same for him, Jack’s rage had closed the distance between him and Soldier 76, and Gabe had craved absolution.

 

“You would have hated this job.” Jack mumbled distracting him from the dark turn of his thoughts ”It’s everything you hated doing and delegated to me during the Crisis, but on steroids. Athena has to remind me to sleep, I had a ring for you _four_ months and I haven’t been been able to find a moment of peace to surprise you.”

 

Gabe combed his fingers through Jack’s golden and silver strands and smiled.

“I was more jealous of you than I ever was of the job, _mi amor_ ” He kissed the corner of his mouth and Jack chuckled when his beard tickled him “And I have known about the ring for three months by now, Jack, you don’t need to _surprise_ him, just give it to him.”   


“Son of a–” Jack groaned “Ugh, I should have known…” He murmured clearly more asleep than awake  “I will. As soon as he’s back, I will.” His eyes closed again

 

Gabriel couldn’t tell what was waiting for him back home, but pressing a kiss on the top of Jack’s head and closing his own eyes, he wished that in this version, at least, their story could have a happy ending.

 

 

* * *

 

 

Soldier 76 stood to attention while Gabriel was reunited with his friends. His welcome back to his proper time had been a warm one, Ana and Reinhardt had caged him into a three way hug, the large German man sniffling while he crushed Gabriel’s ribs.

 

They put a warm relaxed smile back on Gabriel’s face, he moved around the base with confidence, people stopping him to greet him, never had been more obvious just how much out of place Gabriel had been in 2076, and how much he rightfully belonged here.

 

Ana gave Seventy-six a long look, her eyes narrowing and he had to fight the instinct to raise his hand and check whether or not the mask was there.

 

Jack had imagined a lot of ways they were going to find Reaper, plans he could propose to flush him out, but he had to admit simply opening a door and finding him get dressed wasn’t one.

 

Their old quarters were much as Jack remembered them, the neatness, the duvet Reinhardt gave them for Christmas because Gabe was always cold in Geneva, no matter the time of the year, the desk he spent the nights working on, Gabriel sleeping a few feet from him.

 

The smell of sex.

 

While surprising, the scene wasn’t particularly hard to put together, Reaper had abandoned his usual peculiar attire for simpler civilian clothes, he was rolling down a shirt when they set foot in the room. His regenerative abilities didn’t let his grey skin to be marred by any evidence, but Jack’s, younger Jack’s – who once managed to get sun burned in May – held enough for both of them.

 

The man in question, with only a pair of pajama bottoms on, lost the grip he had on the cups of coffee in his hands.

Good thing too, because the next thing he did was flinging himself toward Gabriel, the one Seventy six had traveled with.

 

Jack kissed Gabe on the mouth four times, punctuating the sentence “I was . So. Fucking. Worried.”

Seventy-six noticed Gabriel’s posture was stiff, his arms didn’t raise to hug the man, instead they soon pushed him away.

 

“I can see that.”

 

His younger counterpart looked confused, Gabriel took a stepped back

 

“He warned me about you, but I thought you deserved the benefit of the doubt.”

 

“What are you talking about?”

 

“We’re done, Jack.”

 

Soldier 76 didn’t expect that to hurt, it was what he had wanted for Gabe, he was glad he finally came around to see Jack Morrison for who he really was, but it still hurt.

 

Morrison watched Gabriel walk away, his mouth agape and his arms still hanging in the air.

 

“What the actual…” He would have rushed after Gabriel, Seventy-six could tell, if Reaper hadn’t put a hand on his shoulder

 

“Let me talk to him.”

 

Morrison nodded.

 

Reaper walked past him and lingered at Seventy- six’s side for a second

 

“I...we should talk too, after.”

 

Soldier 76 tilted his head. Reaper hadn’t been on a chatty mood last time they saw each other, his back could attest to that. Then again, by the looks of it, Morrison had had plenty of time to whisper sweet poison into his ear. He hoped he wasn’t too late.

 

“Sure.” He said.

 

Morrison, still looking like someone had gutted his favorite pet in front of him, narrowed his eyes in his direction.

 

“I see my endeavor to stop smoking will go in the future just as well as it did in the past.”

 

Seventy-six smirked, unclasped his mask and lowered his visor.

 

“They always said we were smarter than we looked.”He said “And the habit got worse actually, but my throat was already ruined in the explosion by then.”

 

Morrison flinched at his scars, or maybe the wrinkles, who knows, something dangerously close to pity flickering in his eyes.

  
“Gabriel mentioned you two aren’t on best of terms.”

  
“I’m not gonna have a heart to heart about this with you” Seventy-six snapped.

  
“No need to get...wait explosion, what explosion, should we be worried?”

 

Soldier 76 couldn’t help the bitter laugh that spilled from him “You two didn’t waste _too_ much time talking, then”

 

Morrison blushed, his cheeks turning pink “We had...other stuff going on.”

 

Seventy-six pointedly took a sniff “Yeah, I can smell exactly what kind.”

  
“We went on a mission together!” Morrison seemed to have completely misunderstood Seventy-six’ expression, because he put a hand on his biceps, even when Seventy six glowered at the touch, and spoke gently “He’s really sorry, I hope you will hear him out.”

 

“There’s nothing he should be sorry about.”

  
“I knew you’d forgive him.” Morrison smiled, thoroughly wrong again. “What was Gabe talking about? Is he okay? Did something happen?”

 

“He’ll be fine. It will be hard at first, but he’ll come around.”

 

As cliché as it sounded,Gabriel would thank him one day .

 

“What?” Morrison frowned.

 

“I’d like to say it’s nothing personal, Jack, but let’s be honest, that would be a lie.”

 

Soldier 76 lunged and closed his fingers around Jack Morrison unsuspecting neck.

Morrison eyes widened as his throat gulped for air and couldn’t find any. The momentum of his charge had made Morrison fall on his back, and Soldier 76 found himself kneeling over the chest of his younger self, listening to his wheezing gasps. The man tried to grasp his arms, pulling them away, but Seventy-six didn’t budge, and the more his finger crushed his windpipes, the weaker Morrison’s attempts became. Soon his eyelids were fluttering close

 

“It’s for everyone’s sake, Jack”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I honestly do not consider it infidelity and it is not considere infidelity in the context of the fic, but if, for some reason, you wanted to avoid a Reaper/Jack Morrison scene, this chapter has one so beware.
> 
> *
> 
> Once upon a time I stumbled on this piece of art and I thought it was a goddamn crime there was no fanfiction about it : https://lilized.tumblr.com/post/157011698357/lilized-jaradraws-congrats-on-the-promotion
> 
> So I started writing Black Skies, obviously I changed a lot of things from the first concept that popped into my head, this was more than EIGHT months ago, but I'm finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel!
> 
> *
> 
> Moira came out and jossed me throughly, it was a very sad day (not really it was amazing). BUT I called the Oasis University thing so, score.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed reading! Please consider leaving kudos or a comment, it would make my day.
> 
> You can find me on tumblr http://lilized.tumblr.com/!


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